Election 2021 Live Updates: Former BJP leader Yashwant Sinha appointed as TMC vice-president ahead of Bengal polls

West Bengal, Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu Election 2021 Live Updates: West Bengal will vote in eight phases, Assam in three, and Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Puducherry together on the same day. Voting will be spread over a month between March 27 and April 29, and the results for all five Assemblies will be announced on May 2

Assembly Elections 2021 Live Updates: Former BJP leader and Union minister Yashwant Sinha, who joined the Trinamool Congress on Saturday has been appointed as the party’s vice-president on Tuesday, ANI reported. Sinha would also become a national working committee member in the party.

.The BJP released a list of 63 candidates for the third and fourth phases of the upcoming Bengal polls on Sunday, allotting seats to several sitting MP’s and erstwhile TMC members. Along with this, the saffron party also announced names for 112 seats in Kerala and 17 seats each in Tamil Nadu and Assam. The Congress party on the other hand announced 86 names for Kerala Assembly polls and 34 candidates for Bengal.

In Tamil Nadu, the ruling AIADMK released its election manifesto promising free housing, farmer subsidies, educational loan waivers, among other things. The party, an ally of the BJP,  also said that it would urge the Centre to scrap the Citizenship Amendment Act. Its rival, DMK released its manifesto on Saturday with several key promises such as a law to ensure 75 per cent reservation for Tamil Nadu residents in jobs.

In other news, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was back on the campaign trail on Sunday in a wheelchair. Leading a roadshow in Kolkata, she said that a wounded tiger is far more dangerous than a murdered tiger. Later in the day, Union Home Minister Amit Shah held a roadshow in Medinipur, promising the return of a “Sonar Bangla” or golden Bengal if BJP comes to power.

BJP, Congress announce candidates for West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu; Mamata Banerjee back on campaign trail after injury; Amit Shah targets Congress in Assam. Follow latest developments from the campaign trail below

Former BJP leader and Union minister Yashwant Sinha, who joined the Trinamool Congress recently has been appointed as the party’s vice president on Tuesday, ANI reported. Sinha would also become a national working committee member.

The BJP on Sunday released its list of candidates for the third and fourth phases of the Assembly elections in West Bengal, giving tickets to several of its sitting MPs and recent entrants from the Trinamool Congress. It released 63 names, for 27 seats out of 31 voting in the third phase on April 6 and 36 out of 44 voting in the fourth phase on April 10.

Among the BJP candidates in Bengal are Rajya Sabha MP Swapan Dasgupta and former Chief Economic Advisor to the Government of India Ashok Lahiri, who will contest the Tarakeswar and Alipurduars seats respectively. (With Santanu Chowdhury, Liz Mathew)

Election LIVE updates: Statewise seats distribution.

Kerala Polls: Muraleedharan stands from the sole seat BJP holds as Congress finally has a candidate list

After weeks of heated deliberations, the Congress Sunday announced candidates for 86 of the 92 seats it is contesting in Kerala. Candidates for the remaining six seats will be declared after further discussions with the national leadership, state Congress president Mullappally Ramachandran said in New Delhi.

The party has fielded all its sitting legislators, except K C Joseph. There is a clear generational shift, with 46 persons out of the 92 in the age group of 25-50. Besides, 50% of the candidates are first-timers.

Not DMK, not ADMK, Naam Tamilar Katchi: Seeman as ‘Thackeray of Tamil Nadu’

AMONG the many small political outfits in the Tamil Nadu electoral race, with a support base that can swing results, is the Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK), led by a former film director who also has roots in the Dravidian movement: Seeman.

Like it has done for several elections now, the NTK has announced candidates for all the 234 seats in Tamil Nadu, half of them women. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the party, that has never tied up with any other outfit, got 4% of the votes (more than the Left, Dalit parties).

 

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