oppn parties Polling Dates Announced for 4 States & Puducherry, 8-Phased Polling In West Bengal

Story Of The Day

Assessee Not Responsible For Ensuring TDS Is Paid To The Government: Delhi HC
OPINIONS : Strongly Expressed

January 22, 2025

People Are Talking About

Rohit Warns Sarfaraz, Police Use It To Warn Two-Wheeler Riders

News Snippets

  • Sikh extremists attacked a cinema hall in London that was playing Kangana Ranaut's controversial film 'Emergency'
  • A Delhi court directed the investigating agencies to senstize officers to collect nail clippings, fingernail scrappings or finger swab in order to get DNA profile as direct evidence of sexual attack is often not present and might result in an offender going scot free
  • Uniform Civil Code rules cleared by state cabinet, likely to be implemented in the next 10 days
  • Supreme Court reiterates that there is no point in arresting the accused after the chargesheet has been filed and the investigation is complete
  • Kolkata court sentences Sanjoy Roy, the sole accused in the R G Kar rape-murder case, to life term. West Bengal government and CBI to appeal in HC for the death penalty
  • Supreme Court stays criminal defamation case against Rahul Gandhi for his remarks against home minister Amit Shah in Jharkhand during the AICC plenary session
  • Government reviews import basket to align it with the policies of the Trump administration
  • NCLT orders liquidation of GoAir airlines
  • Archery - Indian archers bagged 2 silver in Nimes Archery tournament in France
  • Stocks make impressive gain on Monday - Sensex adds 454 points to 77073 and Nifty 141 points to 23344
  • D Gukesh draws with Fabiano Caruana in the Tata Steel chess tournament in the Netherlands
  • Women's U-19 T20 WC - In a stunning game, debutants Nigeria beat New Zealand by 2 runs
  • Rohit Sharma to play under Ajinkye Rahane in Mumbai's Ranji match against J&K
  • Virat Kohli to play in Delhi's last group Ranji trophy match against Saurashtra. This will be his first Ranji match in 12 years
  • The toll in the Rajouri mystery illness case rose to 17 even as the Centre sent a team to study the situation
Calling the case not 'rarest of rare', a court in Kolkata sentenced Sanjay Roy, the only accused in the R G Kar rape-murder case to life in prison until death
oppn parties
Polling Dates Announced for 4 States & Puducherry, 8-Phased Polling In West Bengal

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2021-02-26 14:18:27

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.

The Election Commission (EC) today announced he dates for the elections in West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Assam and Puducherry. Elections in these states and union territory will be held in phases from March 27 to April 29 and counting will be done on May 2. While Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry will have polling on a single day on April 6, Assam will have a three-phase election on March 27 and April 1 and 6. West Bengal has been singled out for special treatment with elections spread over more than one month in 8 phases.

The EC cannot be faulted for announcing a punishing schedule for West Bengal as there are pointers that there will be a fierce turf battle between the ruling TMC and the BJP. The two are at loggerheads ever since the BJP made heavy inroads in TMC citadels in the Lok Sabha elections in 2019. After that, the BJP has been steadily poaching on TMC leaders at all levels and the party's bigwigs, including Prime Minister Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah have been making repeated trips to the state. All observers expect bloodshed during the days leading to the polls and disturbances on poll days. Hence the EC is taking no chances and will hold the elections in 8 phases to make the best use of Central forces in conducting free and fair elections.

But the picture changes once one sees it from another angle. Consider the fact that there is not a massive difference in the number of seats between Tamil Nadu (234) and West Bengal (294). Yet, Tamil Nadu will have elections in a single phase while West Bengal elections are spread over eight phases in a month and two days. Has the EC decided to give the BJP enough time to end campaigning in other states by April 5 and concentrate on West Bengal by deploying the heavyweights in the remaining phases? That is another, more interesting and controversial, way to look at the need to have polling in 8 phases in the state. 

Other Stories You Make Like

Editorials

Turmoil In Mollywood

Turmoil In Mollywood

NDA 3.0: Coalition Dharma

NDA 3.0: Coalition Dharma

In Depth

Supreme Court Gets Strict On Child Pornography

Supreme Court Gets Strict On Child Pornography

Editor's Pick

Budapest Chess Olympiad: India Are World Team Champions

Budapest Chess Olympiad: India Are World Team Champions
© 2014 India Commentary. All rights reserved.