• As announcements made by the Election Commission of India, the Assembly Election PollingSchedule is released. The polling shall be conducted for the following:
  • 126 constituencies in Assam
  • 140 in Kerala
  • 234 in Tamil Nadu
  • 294 in West Bengal
  • 30 in Puducherry
• The polling shall be held according to the terms of their assemblies of these states that are set to come to an end in May and June.
• As a matter of fact, the President’s Rule has been imposed in Puducherry and the assembly kept under suspended animation after the V Narayanasamy-led Congress government failed to win the trust vote earlier this week.
• The major parties which will contest the given election are:
• Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
• Congress
• DravidaMunnetraKazhagam (DMK)
• All India DravidaMunnetraKazhagam (AIADMK)
• Trinamool Congress (TMC)
• An alliance has been seen in Tamil Nadu between the ruling AIADMK and the BJP against the opposition party DMK.
• In case of Bengal, Mamata Banerjee-led TMC and the BJP will be fighting against each other to retain the state with the central party confident of snatching away power.

• Kerala will see the Left Democratic Front (LDF), which is led by the Communist Party of India(Marxist) or CPI(M), cross paths with the United Democratic Front (UDF) led by Congress.
• The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has an incumbent government in Assam with the party’s SarbanandaSonowal as the chief minister.
• These will be the first set of assembly elections to be held in the country since those in Bihar elections during pandemic.

STATE-WISE UPDATES FOR ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS, 2021:

1. West Bengal:
2. List of phases in West Bengal: 8
3. Elections for the Legislative Assembly of West Bengal that comprises 294 seats are set to be held soon as the current tenure ends on May 30.
4. Election Commission to appoint 2 special observers for West Bengal polls (If needed third can be sent).

• Puducherry:
• Puducherry elections to be held on April 6.
• Voting for Puducherry assembly election will take place in a single phase on April 6. As per the Election Commission, counting of votes will be on May 2.
• Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora said that for the Union Territory, March 19 will be the last date for nominations, March 20 for scrutiny and March 22 for the withdrawal of candidature.

• Tamil Nadu:
• The Assembly elections will be held in a single phase. Date of poll: 6 April. Counting on 2 May.
• The state of Tamil Nadu will go to polls on April 6, the Election Commission announced on Friday. The counting of votes and declaration of results will happen on May 2, simultaneously with other poll bound states.
• The issue of notification for the election will happen on March 12. The last date for nomination is March 19. The scrutiny of nominations will take place the next day and candidates have time up to March 22 to withdraw their names.
• The 234-seat Tamil Nadu assembly’s current term comes to an end in May. In the 2016 election, the AIADMK won 134 seats, the DMK got 89 and the Congress eight. For the AIADMK, 2016 brought a second straight victory.

• Kerala:
• All elections in 14 districts in a single phase. Date of poll: 6 April, 2021
• The single-phased election in Kerala will be held on April 6 with the counting of votes on May 2.
• Polls will be held in 140 seats in Kerala, where the BJP is yet to make inroads.
• The Kerala Legislative Assembly (Vidhan Sabha) has a total number of 140 seats, of which, 14 seats are reserved for the Scheduled Castes and two seats are reserved for the Scheduled Tribes.

• Assam:
• Elections to be held in three phases.
• The Assembly polls will be held in Assam in three phases – on March 27, April 4 and April 6.
• Term of Assam assembly ends on May 31 while 8 seats are reserved for SC and 16 seats are reserved for ST out of total 126 assembly seats.
• The Election Commission has appointed Ashok Kumar as a special police observer for Assam.
• In Assam in 2016, the polling stations were 24,890 and in 2021, there will be 33,530. The percentage increase in polling stations is 35.71%.
• The BJP had created history in 2016 elections by winning Assam, making it first north-eastern state to be governed by the saffron party. The BJP had ousted the Congress after its 15-year uninterrupted rule. The BJP had alone won 60 seats in the 126-member Assembly.

COMPLETE SCHEDULE: