New Delhi. The much-awaited results of the assembly elections of five states of the country—West Bengal, Assam, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Union Territory Puducherry—are coming out today. The process of counting of votes has started from 8:00 am on Monday amid tight security. According to the rules of the Election Commission, first of all the postal ballots are being counted, after which immediately from 8:30 am the electronic voting machine (EVM) boxes will open and the picture of victory or defeat in the election will start becoming clear. The results of a total of 823 assembly seats will be declared today. These include 293 seats in West Bengal, 234 in Tamil Nadu, 140 in Kerala, 126 in Assam and 30 in Puducherry. There are a total of 294 seats in West Bengal, but re-polling is to be held on ‘Falta’ assembly seat on May 21, due to which today counting of votes is taking place on only 293 seats there. The reputation of veterans is at stake
The credibility of many political bigwigs is at stake in these elections. While in West Bengal there is a close contest between Mamata Banerjee led Trinamool Congress (TMC) and BJP, in Tamil Nadu M.K. Stalin and Pinarayi Vijayan’s litmus test in Kerala. In Assam, BJP is trying to retain power under the leadership of Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, while in Puducherry also a tough contest is being seen.
Elaborate security arrangements
Heavy deployment of central security forces and local police has been made to prevent any untoward incident at the counting centres. With the arrival of the initial trends, crowds of workers have started gathering outside the offices of political parties. Trends are expected to be clear on most of the seats by afternoon, which will decide who will be in command of these states for the next five years.
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