Battle lines drawn, election to five states announced
Elections to assemblies will be held in Assam, West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry in April-May, it was announced on Friday, in the biggest popularity test for political parties since the 2014 Lok Sabha battle. Nearly 170 million people will be eligible to vote in the staggered exercise that will see a two-phase polling in Assam, a six-phase balloting in West Bengal spread over seven days, and a day's battle each in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. Assam (126 seats) will vote on April 4 and 11, and West Bengal (294 seats) on April 4-11, 17, 21, 25 and 30 and May 5, Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi told the media. Kerala (140 seats), Tamil Nadu (234 seats) and Puducherry (30 seats) will go to the polls on May 16. Counting of votes in all five states will take place on May 19. Within hours of the announcement, West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress announced its candidates for all the 294 assembly seats but it also expressed its displeasure over the decision of spreading the voting into six phases.
