Votes were polled in 1,53,538 Polling Stations spread across 475 Assembly Constituencies today, in the states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and for third phase of Assam and West Bengal. The number of Polling Stations has increased in view of the fact that the number of voters per polling station has been reduced from 1,500 to 1,000 keeping social distancing norms in view.
The voter turnout In Assam was 82.28% and 84.21% in West Bengal. While 73.40% of the people voted in Kerala till 6 pm, neighbouring Tamil Nadu witnessed 62.86% during the period till 5 pm. 77.87% voters cast their votes in Puducherry.
Meanwhile, an election officer in Bengal was suspended after he claimed he slept overnight with an electronic voting machine (EVM) at the home of a Trinamool Congress leader. The EVM and VVPAT will not be used in the polls, the election body said this morning. Tapan Sarkar, the deputed officer for Howrah's Sector 17 in AC 177 Uluberia Uttar, was found to have taken a reserve EVM to his politician-relative's home to sleep over. Charges for major punishment will now be framed against the official, authorities have said. Police officials attached to him will also face action, they said.
Along with the state polls, voting will also take place for Lok Sabha bypolls for Tamil Nadu's Kanyakumari and Kerala's Malappuram seats.
Here are the live updates of assembly elections in West Bengal, Assam, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Puducherry:
A clash erupted on Tuesday afternoon between the workers of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the Kattayikonam area of rural Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala during the elections, reports news agency ANI.
In footage that has now going viral, a fan manages to get close enough to the actor to take a selfie with him - without Ajith's consent"
In a state with a four-decades-old tradition of alternating between the two main coalitions every five years, will these elections buck the trend - that's the all-important question that more than 2.74 crore people in Kerala will get to decide today."
Udhayanidhi Stalin, after casting his vote today in Tamil Nadu, compared his debut poll outing to an exam."
Over 20 crore people from Assam, Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry will vote in a mammoth electoral exercise today. For the latter three this is the first and only phase of polling. It is Assam's third and final, while Bengal has five more.