Guwahati/Thiruvananthapuram/Puducherry: Voting for assembly elections is to be held on Thursday in 3 states of the country, Assam, Kerala and Puducherry. While the ruling party is trying to maintain its hold in these three states, the opposition is trying its best to make a comeback. While the BJP-led NDA is in power in Assam and Puducherry, the Left Front is in power in Kerala and its main fight in the state is considered to be with the Congress. Experts estimate that this time an interesting election contest can be seen in all the three states.
Eye on BJP’s ‘hat-trick’ in Assam
The main contest in the elections for the 126-member assembly of Assam is being considered between the BJP-led NDA and the Congress-led opposition alliance. BJP is in the fray with the aim of forming the government for the third consecutive time, while Congress is trying to make a comeback after losing power in 2016. A total of 722 candidates are in the fray in this election, which includes big names like Chief Minister Himanta Vishwa Sharma, Congress State President Gaurav Gogoi, Leader of Opposition Debabrata Saikia, AIUDF chief Badruddin Ajmal and Raijor Dal leader Akhil Gogoi.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Vishwa Sharma among his supporters.
Voting will be held from 7 am to 5 pm at 31,490 polling stations in 35 districts of the state. Around 2.50 crore voters are eligible to cast their votes, including 1.25 crore women and 318 third gender voters. Party wise, Congress has fielded candidates on 99 seats, BJP on 90 and AIUDF on 30 seats. BJP’s allies Assam Gana Parishad is contesting on 26 seats and BPF on 11 seats. Among other parties, Aam Aadmi Party is contesting on 18 seats, Trinamool Congress on 22, UPPL on 18 and JMM on 16 seats, while there are also 258 independent candidates.
Women representation is limited in the Assam assembly elections, and this time only 59 women candidates are in the fray. Of these, Congress has given tickets to 14 women and BJP to 7 women. In the major contests, everyone’s eyes are on the contest between Chief Minister Himanta Vishwa Sharma from Jalukbari seat, Gaurav Gogoi in Jorhat, Debabrata Saikia in Nazira and Akhil Gogoi in Shibsagar. To make the election process fair, webcasting arrangements have been made at all polling stations and central forces have been deployed for security. This time 6.42 lakh new voters, 2.50 lakh people above 80 years of age and 2.05 lakh disabled voters are also participating.
Tough competition expected in Kerala
Voting for 140 assembly seats in Kerala will also be held in a single phase on Thursday. A total of 2.71 crore voters will exercise their franchise here. There are 883 candidates in the election fray in Kerala. The contest in the state is mainly between the Left Democratic Front i.e. LDF and the Congress-led United Democratic Front i.e. UDF, while the BJP-led NDA is also trying to strengthen its presence.
The LDF is trying to return to power for the third consecutive time under the leadership of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. He is making his 10 years of work including infrastructure, welfare schemes and crisis management an election issue. However, the LDF is facing challenges from anti-incumbency and the recent elections. At the same time, UDF is hoping to return to power by raising issues like discontent and corruption against the government.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan during a public meeting.
UDF has also accused the Left Front of colluding with BJP and having links with organizations like SDPI. On the other hand, BJP is trying to perform better than the previous elections in the state and is presenting itself as an alternative to both LDF and UDF.
Competition is very important in Puducherry also
Along with Assam and Kerala, the election atmosphere is also heated in Puducherry and voting will be done here also on Thursday. The main contest in Puducherry is mainly between the Congress and its allies and the BJP-led NDA alliance. Despite being a small state, the politics here is considered quite interesting. The results of the elections in Puducherry will decide whether Congress is able to maintain its hold or BJP is able to further strengthen its position here.
In the ruling NDA, AINRC is contesting in 16 constituencies, and its ally BJP is contesting in 10 constituencies and AIADMK and LJK are contesting in 2 constituencies each. The opposition INDIA alliance, after lengthy negotiations over seat sharing, agreed to allocate 16 constituencies to the Congress, 13 to the DMK and one (Ujhavarkarai) seat to the VCK. Overall, in these three states on Thursday, the people will imprison the fate of various political parties in EVMs.
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