Battle for states begins April 4

Last phase in May, counting of votes in 4 states, 1 UT on May 19

The states of Assam, Kerala and West Bengal, politically crucial for both the Congress and the BJP, along with Tamil Nadu and the Union Territory of Puducherry will hold Assembly polls between April 4 and May 16 in a schedule spread across one and a half months.

There will be single-day polling in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry on May 16, while elections in West Bengal will in six phases, like in 2011, and in two in Assam.

The first phase in West Bengal, to be held in areas affected by left-wing extremism, 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.

Counting of votes in all the states will be held on May 19, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Nasim Zaidi announced on Friday while unveiling the poll schedule.

The BJP, after being drubbed in Delhi and Bihar is pinning its hopes on Assam, the only state among the four going to polls where it stands some chance of giving the ruling Congress a fight, especially after its alliance with the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP).

For the Congress, too, the polls in Assam would be an acid test as after being in power in the state since 2001, chief minister Tarun Gogoi faces a stiff challenge from the newly forged BJP-AGP alliance.

Though it is being speculated that there is a tacit understanding between the Congress and Badruddin Ajmal of the AIUDF (which sees migrant Bengali-speaking Muslims as one of its main vote banks), the saffron party’s aggressive parleys in the state, as well as several Congress MLAs led by Himanta Biswa Sarma having joined the BJP six months ago, may not make it a cakewalk for Mr Gogoi.

The Congress also faces a stiff test in Kerala, where it is currently in power, as the Left parties are breathing down its neck — thanks to the Kanhaiya Kumar controversy having spurred them back to life and the various scams which have hit the Oommen Chandy dispensation there.

The BJP is trying desperately to win some ground in West Bengal, where it managed to win two Lok Sabha seats in the 2014 general election. However, there the ruling Trinamul Congress is likely to return to power while the Left, Congress and the BJP may come second, third and fourth, respectively.

Meanwhile 75,000 to 80,000 paramilitary personnel will be deployed to provide security during the Assembly elections in the four states and one Union Territory, home secretary Rajiv Mehrishi told reporters. One company of a paramilitary force comprises around 100 personnel. Mr Mehrishi said that at any given time the number of paramilitary personnel on poll duty would not be higher than the figure given.

Apart from Central paramilitary personnel, the police forces of all states will be deployed in the respective states to ensure free and fair polls.

The Election Commission has also said that Central paramilitary forces will be deployed in all polling stations well in advance and they will be used for area domination and confidence-building measures. EC-appointed observers will be looking into the booth-wise and area-wise deployment of the Central forces who are expected to be deployed at every booth and supervised directly by the Election Commission.

Mr Zaidi, for his part, said the 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 six phases “overall”.

Mr Zaidi also said that following the delimitation exercise in Cooch Behar district of West Bengal, 16,000 people who became Indian citizens following the exchange of enclaves with Bangladesh will be able to vote in the polls.

The law which allows the EC to hold the delimitation exercise to put these people in various Assembly and Lok Sabha constituencies came into force Friday morning.

The CEC said that due to the delimitation exercise Cooch Behar has been assigned to the last phase — on May 5.

As part of measures to ensure neutrality of officials during polls, the EC has already ordered the transfer of officials above the ranks of sub-inspector and inspector out of areas where they have served for over three years.

To a question on the “proximity” of certain officials in West Bengal with the ruling party there, he said he would not go into the names of officials or any particular state, but the commission would ensure that only those who are neutral and impartial are associated with poll-related work. “We will take appropriate action... We are keeping a watch,” he said.

The Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Puducherry Assemblies have 126, 140, 234, 294 and 30 constituencies, respectively.

The elections will also see for the first time a symbol created by the National School of Design and allotted to the NOTA (None of the above) option that will be placed at the bottom of the list of candidates.

Noting that voters are in the focus of the commission, Mr 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 and leprosy centres to ensure inclusiveness. Mobile squads will have GPS-fitted vehicles and will be accompanied by Central forces to ensure they quickly attend to complaints. A total of 17 crore voters in the four states and one UT will use over 1.18 lakh polling stations to cast their votes.