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April 17, 2021 / 07:51 AM IST

West Bengal Election 2021 LIVE Updates: Phase 5 voting begins across 45 constituencies

West Bengal Assembly Election 2021 LIVE Updates: Phase 5 of voting in 45 constituencies is underway. Catch the latest updates here

West Bengal Assembly Election 2021 LIVE Updates: Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and the Union Territory of Puducherry are heading for assembly elections. Single phase polling concluded in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry on April 6. Voters in Assam cast their ballots in three phase. Now, the phase 5 of voting is underway in Bengal, with three more rounds to go after this.
The election campaign and canvassing will continue in West Bengal where voting is yet to happen. However, some additional curbs have been imposed amid the second wave of COVID-19. Counting of votes in all states will happen on May 2. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is hoping to retain power in Assam even as it faces ‘Mahajot’, the joint opposition alliance comprising the Congress, AIUDF and other regional parties. In Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress is fighting to keep BJP’s surge at bay. The saffron party has shown a dramatic electoral rise in the state over the last few years. Congress and the Left Front, which are allies in West Bengal, are competing for power in Kerala. The Congress-led UDF and the ruling LDF have been winning alternate elections since the early 1980s. Tamil Nadu’s ruling AIADMK continued its alliance with the BJP amid a challenge from MK Stalin-led DMK and its alliance partners. However, one of the key things to watch out for in the southern state is how some of the smaller parties – including that of actor Kamal Haasan and TTV Dhinakaran’s AMMK – may impact the poll outcome. With their government having collapsed due to defections weeks before the election, V Narayanasamy-led Congress is battling the BJP-NR Congress alliance in Puducherry.