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Tamil Nadu Elections
The dust has settled on the polling booths across Tamil Nadu and the state nowholds its breath for May 4 when the winners of an intensely fought election will be declared. While the headlines focus on the clash of political titans and the survival of Dravidian legacies, a quieter but more profound transformation is being measured in the electoral ledgers. Elections to 234 Assembly constituencies were held on April 23, and the polled votes will be taken up for counting on Monday. This year, a record-breaking 443 women stood as contesting candidates -- a stark climb from the numbers seen just a decade ago. Yet, as the talk of the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam and the promise of 33 per cent legislative reservation dominates national discourse, Tamil Nadu's own history reveals a journey that has been as much about regression as it has been about progress. The statistical journey of women in the Tamil Nadu Assembly is a study in contradictions. At its peak, it yielded a 31.37 per cent ...
West Bengal recorded a strong turnout among third gender electors in the second phase of the assembly polls, with 91.28 per cent of them exercising their franchise, according to the Election Commission. A total of 1,257 third gender electors turned up in two phases of West Bengal elections -- 465 in phase I and 792 in phase II. The turnout stood at 56.79 per cent in phase I, while it rose sharply to 91.28 per cent in phase II. Puducherry, however, recorded the highest overall turnout among third gender electors at 91.81 per cent in the recently-concluded assembly polls. The poll body said Puducherry has 139 third gender electors, of whom 91.81 per cent exercised their franchise. Tamil Nadu has 7,728 third gender electors, out of which 60.49 per cent voted during the April 23 polls. In other states, Assam has 343 third gender electors, registering a turnout of 36.84 per cent, while Kerala has 277 third gender electors, recording a turnout of 57.04 per cent. Polling in Tamil Nadu t
The Election Commission is all set to release the exact number of persons who have exercised their franchise in the Tamil Nadu Assembly election, on Saturday. The voter turnout figures will include details of gender divisions: male, female and transgender. The single-phase elections to the 234-seat Tamil Nadu Assembly were held on April 23, and the counting of votes will be held on May 4. In addition, the ECI authorities here will be inspecting all the strong rooms where the EVMs and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) units are kept. A senior ECI official here said that the 85.15 per cent voter turnout figures, released on the date of polling, are not final and they are based on data received from a subset of polling stations. He said the actual number of votes polled at each polling station is formally recorded in Form 17C, which will be cross-verified with the data in the ECI headquarters. The poll authorities have begun scrutinising the total number of voters since Frida
West Bengal registered a record voter turnout of nearly 92 per cent in the first phase of assembly polls on Thursday amid sporadic incidents of violence, while Tamil Nadu recorded unprecedented voting of over 84 per cent as the BJP pushed to unseat Mamata Banerjee in Bengal and expand in the South. In the first phase, 152 constituencies in West Bengal went to polls,while voting for the 234-member Tamil Nadu assembly was held in one go. The elections are taking place against the backdrop of a massive political row over the SIR of the electoral rolls, a major flashpoint between the BJP and opposition parties, including the Trinamool Congress (TMC). In West Bengal, the BJP is eyeing to wrest power fromBanerjee-led TMC, which seeks a fourth straight term in a state the saffron partyhas never governed, and in Tamil Nadu, key contenders are the ruling DMK and main opposition AIADMK, while actor-politician Vijay-led TVK and Tamil nationalist Seeman-led NTK are putting up a determined ...
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday appealed to the people of Tamil Nadu and West Bengal to "enthusiastically" take part in the voting for the Assembly elections in their states. Modi especially urged the youth and women of the two states to vote in record numbers. Polling has started at all 234 assembly constituencies in Tamil Nadu while voting began for 152 assembly seats, out of the 294, in West Bengal this morning. "As Tamil Nadu votes in the Assembly elections, I call upon all voters to take part enthusiastically in this sacred duty of democracy. I urge the youth and the women of Tamil Nadu in particular to come out and vote in record numbers," Modi said in a post on X. The prime minister, in another post, said, "Phase 1 of the West Bengal Assembly elections takes place today. I urge all citizens to participate in this festival of democracy with full strength. I especially appeal to my young friends and to the women of West Bengal to vote in large numbers". The second ph
The high-intensity poll campaign for the April 23 election to the Tamil Nadu Assembly will end at the close of the day on Tuesday, bringing the mandatory silent period. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, and former Chief Minister of Delhi Arvind Kejriwal besides Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin, AIADMK General Secretary Edappadi Palaniswami, and Deputy CM son Udhayanidhi crisscrossed the state holding roadshows and campaigning for the AIADMK-led NDA and DMK-led SPA candidates in fray from 234 assembly constituencies. Though issues like development, central fund allocation, family rule, and corruption allegations dominated the nearly month-long electrifying campaign, apart from mutual personal attacks, the countdown to the election date saw the delimitation exercise assuming the centre stage. Two powerful alliances - the Secular Progressive Alliance
Around 18 per cent of the candidates in fray in the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections have declared criminal cases against themselves, while 25 percent have assets worth more than Rs one crore, a report by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) said on Monday. According to the report, out of the 3992 candidates analysed, 722(18 per cent) candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves. Of these, 404 (10 per cent) have declared serious criminal cases. In the 2021 Assembly elections, out of 3559 candidates analysed, 466 (13 per cent) had declared criminal cases against themselves, and 207 (6 per cent) had declared serious criminal cases against themselves. Among the major parties, 118 (69 per cent) out of 170 candidates analysed from the AIADMK, 92 (40 per cent) out of 231 candidates from the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam, 70 (40 per cent) out of 175 candidates analysed from the DMK, 16 (48 per cent) out of 33 from the BJP, 14 (50 per cent) out of 28 candidates analysed from t