07:38 (IST)
Kerala Election Results LATEST Updates
Fates of 957 candidates to be decided today
In Kerala, 957 candidates, including Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, 11 state ministers, Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala, Senior Congress leader Oommen Chandy, BJP state chief K Surendran, ''Metroman'' E Sreedharan and former Union minister KJ Alphons were in fray for the 140 Assembly seats.
Of the 633 halls in 114 counting centres, 527 will be earmarked for tabulating EVM votes while the remaining 106 will be for counting postal votes, Chief Electoral Officer Teeka Ram Meena said.
07:20 (IST)
Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Puducherry Election Results LATEST Updates
Number of seats and majority marks
Kerala Assembly Election 2021
Total seats: 140
Majority mark: 71
Tamil Nadu Assembly Election 2021
Total seats: 234
Majority mark: 118
Puducherry Assembly Election 2021
Total seats: 30 (plus three nominated members)
Majority mark: 17
07:01 (IST)
Puducherry Election Results LATEST Updates
Puducherry exit polls show Congress loss
In Puducherry, Congress is predicted to lose out to the NDA.
| Puducherry (Total seats: 30 | |||
| Pollster | BJP+ | Congress+ | Others |
| C-Voter | 21 | 8 | 1 |
| Republic CNX | 16-20 | 11-13 | 0 |
The C-Voter exit poll predicts the NDA to win 21 seats while the Congress-led UPA may win eight seats. Others are predicted to win one seat.
The Republic-CNX predicts 16-20 seats for the NDA and 11-13 seats for the Congress-led alliance.
06:51 (IST)
Kerala Election Results LATEST Updates
LDF likely to return for the second term in Kerala
Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan may defy the norm in his state of the two main alliances alternating in power by leading the CPI(M)-led alliance to another spell in power, going by various exit polls.
Axis My India predicted a big win for the LDF by projecting 104 seats for it in the 140-member assembly and predicting only 20-36 seats to the Congress-led UDF.
Chanakya forecast 93-111 seats for the LDF and 26-44 for the UDF in 140-member strong Kerala Assembly.
CNX predicted a closer fight but still projected a majority of 72-80 seats for the ruling alliance against 54-64 for the Opposition.
06:50 (IST)
Tamil Nadu Election Results LATEST Updates
Tamil Nadu exit polls predict win for DMK-Congress combine
In another key southern state, Tamil Nadu, Axis My India and CNX forecast a big win for the DMK-led alliance that also includes the Congress.
They gave 175-195 and 160-170, respectively for the DMK-Congress-led alliance in the 234-member Assembly. The AIADMK-led alliance, which includes the BJP, was projected to get 38-54 and 58-68, respectively.
The Republic TV-CNX exit poll predicted four-six seats for the TTV Dhinakaran-led AMMK and zero to two sets for others.
Chanakya predicted 164-186 seats for the DMK combine and 46-68 for the incumbent AIADMK-led alliance in Tamil Nadu. The P-Marq predicted 165-190 seats for the DMK-Congress combine and 40-65 seats for the AIADMK-BJP alliance.
The TTV Dhinakaran-led AMMK is predicted to win one to three seats while others may win one to six seats.
Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Puducherry Assembly election LATEST Updates: The Election Commission will undertake the counting of votes in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Puducherry today (2 May, Sunday).
The counting of votes will overshadowed by the raging COVID pandemic, as the BJP seeks to consolidate its hold over more states and the Congress along with its allies attempts to regain turf.
There will be 2,364 counting halls as compared to 1,002 halls in 2016 in 822 Assemble constituencies in view of the coronavirus guidelines, according to the Election Commission which had drawn flak from the courts over the conduct of polls during the pandemic.
At least 15 rounds of sanitisation will be carried out at each centre, besides social distancing and other precautions, including a ban on gatherings, will be strictly followed during the counting by 95,000 officials, officials said.
They said counting of votes will begin at 8 am and continue late into the night. As many as 1,100 counting observers will watch the process and candidates and agents will have to produce a negative COVID test report or double dose of vaccination certificate to get an entry.
Exit polls have forecast a tight contest between the incumbent Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress and the BJP in the crucial West Bengal Assembly polls and put the ruling saffron combine ahead in Assam while projecting that the Left alliance will retain Kerala, a feat unseen in four decades.
For the Congress, the exit polls predicted that it may fall short in Assam and Kerala and lose in Puducherry to the Opposition alliance of AINRC-BJP-AIADMK.
The poll results in the four states and the UT are also likely to reflect how the handling of the COVID pandemic has played on the voters' mind.
A single-phased election was held on 6 April in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and the Union Territory of Puducherry, when the COVID surge had begun in many of the states.
Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal are among the 11 states that account for 78.22 percent of the total active cases, according to the Health ministry.
West Bengal will have the maximum number of 1,113 counting halls, Kerala 633, Assam 331, Tamil Nadu 256 and Puducherry 31, the EC said.
In Tamil Nadu, both Dravidian parties — AIADMK and DMK — went into the election without their stalwarts, J Jayalalithaa and M Karunanidhi.
Chief Minister K Palaniswami and his deputy O Panneerselvam will cement their position as successors of Jayalalithaa if the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazagham (AIADMK) retains power though it faces an uphill task especially after the rout in the 2019 Lok Sabha election when the DMK-led alliance won 38 out of 39 seats.
The AIADMK had scored successive wins in 2011 and in 2016, when Jayalalithaa bucked the anti-incumbency trend — the first by anyone in nearly three decades in the state.
After a narrow defeat in the last Assembly election where several exit polls had predicted his party's win, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) chief M K Stalin spearheaded a determined election campaign this time and vigorously toured the state to take on the ruling AIADMK.
AIADMK ally BJP, which had not won any seat in the last polls, is contesting in 20 constituencies. Another AIADMK ally PMK is contesting from 23 constituencies.
The Congress, an ally of the DMK, is in the fray in 25 Assembly segments. Actor-politician Kamal Haasan's Makkal Needhi Maiam-led combine is also in the fray.
There are 75 counting centres across the state and all arrangements are in place to smoothly conduct the exercise, which would be monitored by observers, authorities said.
In Kerala, the Left Democratic Front (LDF) is seeking to break the state's four-decade-old trend of swinging between the communists and the Congress-led United Democratic Front.
As many as 957 candidates, including Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, 11 of his Cabinet colleagues, Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala, senior Congress leader Oommen Chandy, 'Metroman' E Sreedharan, former Union Minister K J Alphons and BJP State president K Surendran, among others, were in fray in the election to the 140 seats.
The BJP, which had won one seat in 2016, is confident of garnering more seats this time
The poll is significant for Kerala Congress (M) chief Jose K Mani who recently snapped decades-long ties with the UDF and joined hands with the Left front.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had camped in the state for several days and taken part in dozens of corner meetings and rallies, with the party hoping that the state will herald a turn in its electoral fortunes after a series of disappointments in recent years.
In Puducherry, the AINRC-led NDA and the Congress-led Secular Democratic alliance are in a contest. While AINRC fielded candidates in 16 of the total 30 constituencies the BJP is contesting nine seats while the AIADMK is contesting five seats.
The Congress-led government in the Union Territory had collapsed just before the elections.
With inputs from PTI
May 02, 2021 at 07:18AM
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