Ballots in the Assembly elections ofWest Bengal,Tamil Nadu,Kerala,Assam, andPuducherryunlock today at 8 AM, as the D-Day, May 4, is here when the results of the high-stakes polls will be announced. After a month-long high-stakes campaign followed by voting, all eyes are now on the Election Commission of India (ECI), that will start counting of the votes, which will pave the way for next government formations in four states and one Union Territory.
Ahead of the announcement of the election results, not just the candidates, citizens, and voters, but the atmosphere — both in election-bound states and New Delhi — is filled with nervous excitement.
Political parties whose stakes are high in this round of elections areTrinamool Congress(TMC),Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) in West Bengal; DMK, AIADMK, and TVK in Tamil Nadu; United Democratic Front (UDF), Left Democratic Front (LDF) in Kerala; BJP and Congress in Assam; and All India NR Congress (AINRC), BJP, and Congress in Puducherry.
While party supremos and key leaders would be monitoring their performances from their respective states, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, under whose leadership the BJP and Congress MP and Leader of Opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi, on whose face the ‘Grand Old Party’ contested elections, will be monitoring election results from New Delhi.
PM Modiis in Delhi, whileRahul Gandhiis expected to reach the national capital on Monday (today), and both the leaders would be following the election trends and results from the National Capital.
Besides them, Home MinisterAmit Shah- who camped in West Bengal for over two weeks to plan and execute BJP’s election strategy - would also keep an eagle-eyed vision on the election results. However, it is not yet known whether he would be monitoring the performance from New Delhi or West Bengal.
Among these four states and one UT — though result of every election is equally important — but in this round of electoral battle, the states of West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala are set to grab a special attention.
In West Bengal, the BJP aims to unseat the TMC after 15 years of rule under Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. In Tamil Nadu, the AIADMK is hoping to dethrone the MK Stalin-led government. However, in this state, the fight — as predicted and projected by exit polls — may not entirely be a two-way contest as post-poll projections have suggested that the new entrant, TVK led by actor-turned-politician Vijay - who contested his debut election - may perform way better than people’s expectations and turns out a total surprise.
In Kerala, the exit polls have predicted a change of guard in the state and a return of the Congress government after a decade. The BJP is not a key player in this southern state; however, one of the objectives of the saffron party would be to consolidate its voter base and gain as much as vote share.
Assam’s election is one battle where results are not very hard to predict as a majority of post-poll surveys and exit polls predict that incumbent Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma-led BJP will emerge victorious for the third consecutive time.
Source: India Latest News, Breaking News Today, Top News Headlines | Times Now
