Thermal scanning, hand sanitisers for voters as 4 states, 1 UT go to polls in Covid shadow

Mangalore Today News Network / News18

April 06, 2021:     Over 20 crore people from Assam, West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry will vote today in a gigantic electoral exercise. While this is the third and final phase of polling for Assam, Bengal has five more. For the southern two states and one Union Territory, this is the first and only phase of polling. Senior BJP leader Swapan Dasgupta, TMC minister Ashima Patra and former CPI(M) minister Kanti Ganguly are among the 205 candidates whose campaigns for the third phase of elections in 31 seats in West Bengal ended on Sunday evening. In this phase, elections will be held in parts of rural Howrah, the Sunderban region, the Diamond Harbour and Baruipur belts in the South 24 Parganas, and parts of the Hooghly district. All 234 seats in Tamil Nadu – where the AIADMK and DMK traditionally reign supreme – vote in a single phase today. The ruling AIADMK will contest 191, with 23 given to the PMK and only 20 for the BJP.

 

In Tamil Nadu, Kamal Haasan’s MNM will contest 142 seats, with 85 divided between some allies – and the AMMK of TTV Dhinakaran, who is the nephew of expelled AIADMK chief Sasikala. The AMMK will contest 165 seats and leave 60 for the DMDK. In Assam the final phase will see 40 seats in play, with the ruling BJP targeting a second term. The Congress, at the head of an opposition alliance, will contest 24, with Badruddin Ajmal’s AIUDF getting 12, the BPF eight and CPM one. The 140 seats of neighbouring Kerala also vote in a single phase today, with the LDF government led by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan looking to retain power. Puducherry, which is currently under President’s Rule after the collapse of the V Narayanasamy-led Congress government, will see the party contest 14 of 30 Assembly seats, with the DMK getting 13 and smaller allies the rest.

The Election Commission on Monday described as sensitive all the 31 West Bengal assembly constituencies where voting will be held in the third phase on Tuesday and imposed prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the Cr PC in them, an official in it said. The constituencies are spread over the districts of Howrah (Part I), Hooghly (Part I) and South 24 Parganas (Part II).

Polling will be held between 7AM to 6.30PM in 10,871 polling stations in the 31 assembly constituencies. A total 78,52,425 voters in the three districts will decide the fate of 205 candidates in Tuesday’s polling. The prominent among them are BJP leader Swapan Dasgupta, TMC minister Ashima Patra and CPI(M) senior leader Kanti Ganguly contesting from Hoogly, Howrah and South 24 Parganas respectively.

“A decision was taken to impose 144 CrPC in all the 16 assembly constituencies of South 24 Parganas (Part II), seven in Howrah (Part I) and eight in Hooghly (Part 1). All the booths in the 31 constituencies are considered to be sensitive,” the official said. The order restricts unlawful assembly and movement, holding of public meetings, carrying of weapons, sticks, banners, placards by anybody as well as shouting slogans and using loudspeakers, he clarified.

“It , however, does not apply to any functions religious, wedding or funeral and gathering of people inside polling booths for voting purpose following the rules. It prohibits the assembly of five or more persons, besides imposing other restrictions,” he added. The EC also asked the authorities of the three districts to execute all the pending arrest warrants by Monday night and take people accused in various cases into custody, he said.

The EC had imposed similar prohibitory orders in Nandigram assembly constituency, where Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is a candidate and the polling was held in the second phase on April 1. At least 618 companies of central armed police forces have been deployed in the 31 constituencies. The highest deployment is in South 24 Parganas district where 396 companies of CAPF have been sent, while 166 companies have been sent to Hooghly and 133 to Howrah rural areas for Tuesday’s polling, the official added.