After an almost month-long high-tension campaign marked by heated political exchanges, high-level rallies and competing narratives on development and governance, election campaigns for 296 Legislative Assembly seats in Assam, Kerala and the union territory of Puducherry concluded on Tuesday.
Voting for 126 seats in Assam, 140 seats in Kerala and 30 seats in Puducherry is scheduled to take place on April 9.
The fate of 1,849 candidates in the three districts will be decided on May 4, when votes in the Tamil Nadu and West Bengal elections will also be counted.
In Kerala, 27.1 million voters – 13.2 million men, 13.9 million women and 273 transgender people – will decide the fate of 833 candidates, according to the Election Commission. The contest is primarily between three fronts – the CPI(Maoist)-led UDF, the Congress-led UDF, and the BJP-led NDA.
Senior leaders, such as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah for the NDA, Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra for the United Democratic Front, and Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan for the LDF, who is seeking a third consecutive term, campaigned extensively across the state.
The campaign was not only about awareness, but also witnessed intense political debate. The Congress sought to build a narrative around the alleged understanding between the BJP and the Communist Party of India (Maoist), while accusing the LDF of forging links with the TDP and raising issues of corruption and governance. The LDF rejected these allegations, highlighting its record on development, infrastructure and social welfare schemes, and comparing it to what it called the failures of previous LDF governments.
Read also: From the margins to the muscle, the BJP’s efforts have intensified in Kerala
The BJP has attacked both fronts, arguing that Kerala has not seen meaningful development under either, and positioning itself as an alternative.
In Assam, the campaign revolved around the five-year record of CM Himanta Biswa Sarma and Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi, who led the opposition alliance. Sarma accused Gogoi of having links with the ISI, while the Congress leveled corruption allegations against Sarma and his wife.
The campaign also witnessed a political row between the Congress and the BJP after a Singapore Police report found no foul play in the death of Assamese singer Zubin Garg.
Senior BJP leaders, including Prime Minister Modi, Shah, and Defense Minister Rajnath Singh, addressed the rallies and promised action against hackers. To be sure, the BJP has been in power in Assam for a decade.
“We have deleted the names of infiltrators from the voter list. Mamata Didi and Rahul Baba are suffering from stomach ache,” Shah said at a rally in Assam on Tuesday, ANI reported. “Let them cry and beat their chests as much as they want, but the intruders have to go.”
Read also: Identifying the infiltrators who will be deported one by one: Amit Shah in Assam
Meanwhile, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, along with Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi, assured people to end corruption and bring Sarma to book.
Of the 722 candidates, 59 are women, with the Congress having the highest percentage with 99 seats, followed by the BJP with 90, AIUDF with 30, NDA allies AGP with 26 seats, and BPF with 11 seats. Assam has more than 25 million voters.
Key constituencies include Jalukbari, where Sarma is seeking re-election, Jorhat, where Gogoi is contesting his first assembly election, and Sibsagar, where Raijor Dal’s Akhil Gogoi is seeking a second term.
In Puducherry, election campaigns for the 30-member Assembly also ended on Tuesday. Puducherry has 23 assembly seats while Karaikal has 5, Mahe and Yanam each have one seat.
294 candidates are competing. There are more than 950,000 voters in Puducherry and Karaikal, according to the Independent Election Commission.
