Assembly polls in 4 states, Puducherry announced

New Delhi: India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party will face elections in four states and one union territory beginning next month, according to a schedule released on Friday, at a time when its approval ratings are slipping and it is under pressure to deliver on economic growth.

State elections are important for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to be able to gain control of parliament’s upper house, where members are indirectly elected by state legislatures.

A lack of a majority in that house has stalled Modi’s economic reforms agenda and delayed passage of a key tax bill.

About 170 million people will be eligible to vote in the states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry in the south, and in Assam and the agrarian state of West Bengal in the east. Assembly elections will be held between April 4 and May 16, spread over 43 days.

All these states are ruled by regional parties or Modi’s top rival, the Congress party.

“The BJP’s performance will be seen as a referendum on the central government... A poor showing, especially in Assam, could damage the image of the ruling party,” said Sandeep Shastri, professor of political science at Bengaluru’s Jain University.

The BJP’s best prospects are in Assam where it is fighting on an anti-immigration plank while it trails in the other four states.

It will be a single-day polling in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry on May 16 while it will be in six phases in West Bengal and two in Assam.

Counting of votes in all the states will be held on May 19, Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi announced today unveiling the poll schedule. Congress is in power in Assam and Kerala while the BJP fancies itself as being a top contender in Assam in alliance with AGP and some small outfits. The BJP is seeking to emerge as a major player in West Bengal, where there are possibilities of Congress and Left joining hands directly or indirectly to take on Trinamool Congress.

Like in 2011, West Bengal will have polls spread over six phases. The first phase to be held in Left wing extremism affected areas will have two polling dates — April 4 and April 11. The other phases will be held on April 17, 21, 25, 30 and May 5. Assam will go to polls in two phases on April 4 and 11.

Zaidi said two dates in the first phase of polling in West Bengal have been decided keeping in mind the sensitive nature of the area and the availability of security personnel as they would also be deployed in Assam which is also considered sensitive.

He maintained that West Bengal will have polls in “overall” six phases.

While refusing to specify the strength of central forces deployed in West Bengal for the assembly polls, Zaidi said their number has increased as compared to 2011 polls.

He also said following delimitation exercise in Cooch Behar district of eastern Indian state of West Bengal, 16,000 people who became Indian citizens following of exchange of enclaves with Bangladesh, will be able to cast votes in the polls.

The elections will also see for the first time a symbol, which has been created by the National School of Design, allotted to Nota (None of the above) that will be placed at the bottom of the list of candidates.

Noting that voters are in the focus of the Commission, Zaidi said all booths will have seven basic facilities and there will also be all-women polling booths.

If possible polling centres will be set up in blind schools, leprosy centres to ensure inclusiveness.

Mobile squads will have GPS-fitted vehicles and be accompanied by central forces to ensure that they quickly attend to complaints.

A total of 170 million voters in the five states will use over 118,000 polling stations to cast their votes.