INDIA. Mumbai: As counting of votes was nearing close in West Bengal, Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and union territory (UT) Puducherry, the predictions of the exit polls mostly came true with Assam and Puducherry remaining with the BJP alliance, Kerala with the LDF, Tamil Nadu with the DMK and West Bengal with the Trinamool Congress(TMC).
Mamata Banerjee is set to become the chief minister of West Bengal for the third time, with her party TMC crossing the halfway mark in the 294-seat assembly with 216 seats. However, in the keenly-watched Nandigram seat, an aide-turned-rival Suvendu Adhikari defeated her by 1,622 votes following several flip-flops over the results. Adhikari had won the Nandigram seat in 2016 on a TMC ticket. This time Banerjee opted to take the fight to the Opposition camp by contesting from Nandigram and not contesting from her ‘safe’ Bhabanipur seat. Now she has announced to move the court challenging Nandigram results.
The BJP had to contend with nearly 75 seats and not crossing even the 100 seat mark, despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and other leaders addressing a sizable number of rallies in West Bengal. Besides an anti-incumbency factor did not seem to affect the TMC.
In Tamil Nadu, the Opposition DMK and its allies, including the Congress, we’re ahead in at least 131 seats, while the ruling AIADMK was up in 84 seats. In the 234-seat House, a party needs at least 118 seats to form the Government. The AIADMK has been in power since 2011. This election was the first in the state without two of Tamil Nadu’s towering political figures, M Karunanidhi and J Jayalalithaa. The gap they left in the political arena gave rise to other fronts over the last few years. The others in the fray included an alliance led by TTV Dhinakaran’s Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) and one by actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan’s Makkal Needhi Maiam(MNM).
In Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan was set to create history by steering the Left Democratic Front (LDF) front to its second consecutive victory. Vijayan emerged victorious in the Dharmadam seat, defeating his rival candidate from Congress Ragunathan by a margin of 50,123 votes. The Left’s stellar performance in the polls was attributed to Vijayan, who led the front. The LDF was leading in 99 seats, while Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) was ahead in 41 constituencies. The Metro Man, E Sreedharan who was contesting from Palakkad on a BJP ticket initially maintained a lead. However, subsequently sitting legislator Shafi Parambhil of the Congress overtook him.
In Assam, the ruling BJP was set to retain the power with 61 seats (8 wins, 53 lead). The Grand Alliance spearheaded by the Congress was ahead in 42 places. The AGP bagged one seat. The BJP managed to beat the incumbency factor as well as anti-CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act) sentiments as evident from its lead in the 126 seat Assam assembly.
In Puducherry, the AINRC of former Chief Minister N Rangaswamy was leading with 10 seats followed by BJP with 06 in the 30 member house. Other results were: DMK 06, Congress 02, and others 06 seats.
The tally of seats as per available details was: West Bengal(seats 292/294)-TMC-215, BJP-74, CPM-01, others-02. Tamil Nadu (seats 234)- DMK-131, ADMK-70, Congress-15, PMK-05, BJP-04, VCK-04, CPI-02, CPM-02, Other-01. Kerala( seats)- CPI(M)-62, Congress-21, CPI-17,IUML-15, KEC(M)-5, others-20. Assam (seats 126)-BJP-59,Cong-29,AGP-09,AIUDF-16. BPF-04, Others-09. Puducherry( 30 seats), AINRC 10, BJP 06, DMK 06, Congress 02 and others-06.
West Bengal, Assam, Tamil Nadu, Kerala — and a Union Territory — Puducherry — voted between March 27 and April 29 under the shadow of a raging coronavirus pandemic to elect their next governments. The counting of the votes to declare election results 2021 began at 8 am on Sunday.
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