On 12 March, the Election Commission announced an unprecedented eightphase polling schedule for West Bengal’s 294 assembly seats and a threephase one for 126 seats in Assam. The way the phases have been marked out has drawn attention, especially since Bihar’s elections, in 243 seats last year, were divided into just three phases, and polling in Tamil Nadu (234 seats), Kerala (140 seats) and Puducherry (30 seats) would all be over in one day, on 6 April. The EC says the prolonged schedule in West Bengal would help make available adequate security forces in all the areas. But concerns are being raised that the scheduling will load the dice in favour of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Since the BJP has fewer workers on the ground in West Bengal, dividing the polls into eight phases would allow the party to focus more intensively on smaller regions at a time. Upper Assam, where the BJP is expected to perform well, went to the polls first. But this was also where the party is on the defensive about the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Act of 2019, which was met with massive protests on the ground last year. The scheduling allowed the BJP to not speak of the CAA at all in the beginning of the campaign. However, once polling finished in Upper Assam, the BJP began claiming credit for the CAA to woo the politically significant Matua community, which has been demanding implementation of the act.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة April 2021 من The Caravan.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
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هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة April 2021 من The Caravan.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
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