|
Assembly polls : Last phase today, counting on 11th |
 |
Tamil Nadu is having single-day polling today to elect a new state assembly. At the same time the fifth and last phase of polling for the West Bengal Assembly is also taking place today. Counting of votes in the four states and one Union Territory in the current round of elections will take place on Thursday, May 11.
The main contenders for power in Tamil Nadu are the Democratic People’s Front led by the All India Anna DMK and the Democratic Progressive Alliance, DPA, headed by the DMK. By all accounts, Jayalalithaa’s All India Anna DMK, is set to defeat the anti-incumbency factor and come back to power. According to an Asian Age-AC Nielsen opinion poll, the AIADMK is rated slightly better than the DMK on all image attributes, especially the question of who would take better care of the poor. With no anti-incumbency factor coming to light, it is possible that AIADMK may make it back to power, even though the difference in vote share with the DMK led alliance is just about one per cent.
DMK chief Karunanidhi continues to claim that his DPA would get more than 200 seats of the total 234 seats of the State Assembly.
Speaking in Chennai, Karunanidhi said this was not merely another election, but one which should decide whether autocratic or democratic governance should succeed.
Addressing a rally at Tiruchi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that only the DPA under the leadership of Karunanidhi and Congress leader Sonia Gandhi had the vision to fulfil the needs of the state. He said Tamil Nadu deserves a Government that is secular, development oriented and corruption free.
In Kerala, where three phase polling for the state assembly is already over, the exit polls predict a comprehensive victory for the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front. An exit poll conducted for he Hindu-CNN-IBN predicts that the LDF may win from 107 to 117 seats in the 140-member state assembly. The Congress led United Democratic Front, which is in power at present, may win only 25 to 31 seats, according to the exit poll. Around 74 per cent polling was recorded in the third phase of polling in Kerala.
West Bengal, which is having the last phase of polling today, also appears to be going the Left way. Exit polls conducted after the first four phases of polling indicate that the CPI(M)-led Left front will come back to power with a bigger majority in the state Assembly. Over 70 per cent polling was recorded in the three districts which went to the polls on Wednesday, May 3, in the fourth round of polling.
Polling is also taking place today in the by election to fill up the Lok Sabha seat from Rae Bareli. Congress president Sonia Gandhi, whose resignation from the Lok Sabha on the office of profit issue, led to the by-election, is expected to win hands down. There are 16 candidates in the fray, but even the nominees of the two major parties of the state, the Samajwadi Party and the BJP, do not appear to be posing much of a challenge to Sonia Gandhi. The Samajwadi Party candidate is a political greenhorn while the BJP candidate, Vinay Katiyar, has been left high and dry by the party leadership. Despite the promise that top leaders of the party will campaign for him, no major national leader of the BJP has come to Rae Bareli to campaign in his support, perhaps, because of their pre-occupation with party general secretary Parmod Mahajan’s untimely demise and preoccupation with the Suraksha yatras which have now been abandoned.
Meanwhile, Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi’s son, who had been incharge of Sonia Gandhi’s election campaign has left Rae Bareli on the direction of the Election Commission. The Commission had directed all persons getting security from state agencies to leave the constituency after the period of campaigning ended on Saturday, May 6. Priyanka Vadra, Sonia Gandhi’s daughter, who is also her polling agent, however, continues to remain in Rae Bareli. Talking to reporters, she claimed that Rahul Gandhi’s hard work in the constituency would ensure a massive victory for Sonia Gandhi in the by-election.
Earlier last week, addressing rallies, Rahul Gandhi stepped up his offensive against the Mulayam Singh Yadav Government in Uttar Pradesh. He said, “if the Government is not doing any work, it is time for change.” Rahul Gandhi said the Samajwadi Party Government has been ignoring development of Rae Bareli and Amethi constituencies.
|
