Voting begins in Assam, Keralam and Puducherry; results on May 4

Polling began for highstakes electoral battles in two states Assam and Keralam as well as the Union Territory of Puducherry on Thursday at 7 am with the Election Commission making arrangements for free fair and smooth polling Voters queued outside polling stations to cast their votes in a singlephase assembly electionVoting will be held for 126 seats in Assam 140 in Keralam and 30 in Puducherry in this phase of the election Tamil Nadu will go to the polls on April 23 and West Bengal on April 23 and 29 Votes will be counted on May 4 In Keralam over 26 crore electors will decide the fate of 883 candidates across 140 constituencies Of the 26953644 registered voters across the state there are 13827319 women voters and the number of male voters stands at 13126048Officials said 277 voters have been registered in the third gender categoryAmong the electorate nearly 424518 voters fall in the 1819 age group while 204608 voters are aged 85 years and above To facilitate safe and secure polling a total of 30471 polling stations have been set up which comprises 119 logistic and voter machine distribution centres and 41 vote counting centresKeralam Chief Electoral Officer Rathan U Kelkar on Tuesday said that 146 lakh trained polling personnel have been dispatched to polling stations As part of the arrangements for Kerala Assembly elections we have the total electorate of 271 crores and the service voters are 53984 We will be counting the votes in 140 strong rooms and 43 locations We have 146 lakh polling personnel who have been trained and will be dispatched to all the polling stations he saidWe have FIRs against 180 people in terms of electionrelated activities and more than 1200 police teams are very actively working in the field We are ensuring that all the new initiatives by the Election Commission are implemented properly he added The election is seen as a contest between the ruling LDF and opposition UDF with the BJPled NDA which has been gaining vote share also hopeful of its prospects in the southern stateLeft Democratic Front holds 99 seats in the current assembly and is aiming for a third consecutive term based on its performance and welfare schemes The LDF created a record in 2021 as it retained the southern state which over the decades has seen power alternating between the coalitions led by CPIM and Congress In Assam more than 25 crore electors are eligible to exercise their franchise for 126member legislative assembly There are 722 candidates in the frayOf 25054463 electors 12531552 are male voters and 12522593 females There are 318 voters in the Transgender category and 63423 service voters Among the electorate 642314 voters are in the age group of 1819 years 250006 are above 80 years of age and 205085 are persons with disabilities To strengthen the monitoring mechanism webcasting facilities have been arranged in accordance with the Commissions directions a release saidWebcasting has been enabled in all 31490 polling stations including 31486 main polling stations and 4 auxiliary polling stationsA total of 151132 polling personnel have been deployed for the conduct of the election For polling purposes 41320 Ballot Units 43975 Control Units and 43997 VVPAT machines have been arranged including reserves for emergency use Additional polling personnel have also been kept in readiness if requiredThe Congress has stitched a sixparty alliance to take on the ruling BJPled NDA which is seeking its third successive term in office In Puducherry 1014070 electors are eligible to cast their votes to elect a 30member Legislative Assembly The electorate includes 539125 female voters 474788 male voters and 157 voters belonging to the third gender categoryA total of 24156 voters fall in the age group of 1819 years while 6034 voters belong to the senior citizen category aged 85 and above Speaking with ANI Puducherry Chief Electoral Officer P Jawahar said that 110 sector officers have been deployed across 1099 polling stations out of which 209 stations are categorised as vulnerableHe added that following the enforcement of the Model Code of Conduct flying squads and helplines are being used to track violationsThe Election Department of Puducherry through its district and returning officers has made extensive arrangements Logistics are crucial with polling parties and materials being dispatched to stations on time This process is tracked using drones and 110 sector officers across 1099 polling stations On security multilevel measures are in place Of these 209 polling stations are categorised as vulnerable where central armed police forces are deployed alongside local police to prevent incidents he saidEnforcement of the Model Code of Conduct is strict during the 48hour silence period Campaigning is banned liquor outlets are closed and inducements are closely monitored Drones flying squads and the helpline are used to track violations in real time Technology plays a key role especially in regions like Mahe and Yanam which are far from Puducherry Drone feeds from these areas are monitored live in 4K quality he addedIn Puducherry the contest involves the ruling NDA which includes NR Congress and BJP and the CongressDMK alliance Actor Vijays Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam TVK is seeking to make it triangular The term of the legislative assembly is set to expire on June 15This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever