New Delhi/Kolkata/Chennai: Counting of votes will be held on Monday in Tamil Nadu, Assam, Kerala, Puducherry and West Bengal after a riveting high-voltage contest with the outcome crucial for prominent ruling regional parties like the TMC and DMK as well as the BJP, Congress and the Left.
The exercise will begin at 8 am, starting with the postal ballots at the counting centres, which will have a three-tier security system. In a first, the Election Commission has introduced a QR code-based photo identity card system through ECINET to prevent unauthorised entry into counting centres.
Votes will be counted across 77 centres for 293 Assembly seats in West Bengal, which has witnessed unprecedented security deployment
this time and an acrimony-filled run-up to the result day, with both the ruling TMC and Opposition BJP expressing apprehensions of vote manipulation.
The two-phase polls in the state ended on April 29, with its highest-ever voter turnout of 92.47 per cent since Independence.
The BJP-led NDA is hoping for a hat-trick in Assam. EVMs, holding the electoral fates of 722 hopefuls from 126 Assembly constituencies of the state, will be opened at 40 counting centres across 35 districts.
Twenty-five companies (around 100 personnel each) of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) have been deployed to guard the counting centres and the strongrooms, housing the electronic voting machines (EVMs). Two additional CAPF companies will be kept on static duty, while 93 companies of state armed police have been deployed in the districts, officials said.
Polling in the state was held on April 9, with 85.96 per cent turnout.
Among the 722 candidates, the Congress has the highest 99, followed by the BJP with 90, AIUDF with 30, NDA allies Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) with 26 and Bodo Peoples’ Front (BPF) with 11 nominees.
In Kerala, buoyed by its performance in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and recent local body elections, the Congress-led UDF is hoping to oust the Left Democratic Front (LDF), which has been in power for two terms, while the BJP-led NDA is attempting to gain a foothold in the state with a bipolar polity.
A defeat for the LDF would also mark the first time since the 1960s that Left parties are not in power in any Indian state.
A total of 883 candidates contested the election for 140 seats in the state. There are 140 counting centres across 43 locations.
The ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu is hoping for a second consecutive term after contesting in a changed political arena as, apart from its main rival AIADMK, there were new entrants like actor-politician Vijay-led TVK’s and Tamil nationalist Seeman’s NTK.
All arrangements are in place, including a comprehensive three-tier security plan, for counting of votes on May 4 at the 62 designated counting centres across the state, Chief Electoral Officer, Tamil Nadu, Archana Patnaik said.
Approximately 1.25 lakh personnel, who include officials and micro-observers on vote-counting duty and police, have been deployed.
As many as 234 counting halls have been arranged for EVMs. An additional 240 halls have been designated for the counting of postal ballots and electronically transmitted postal ballots (ETPBs). A total of 10,545 counting personnel have been drafted for counting duty, supported by 4,624 micro-observers.
In Puducherry, six counting centres have been set up across the Union territory. The NDA comprising AINRC, BJP, AIADMK and LJK faces a challenge from the INDIA bloc comprising the Congress, DMK and the VCK.
Counting of votes will also be held in seven seats in Karnataka, Nagaland, Gujarat and Maharashtra where bypolls were held last month following the death of sitting MLAs.
The seven constituencies are: Bagalkot and Davanagere South in Karnataka, Koridang in Nagaland, Dharmanagar in Tripura, Umreth in Gujarat, and Rahuri and Baramati in Maharashtra.
