New Delhi

Polling began at 7 am on Tuesday for one of the busiest days in the ongoing Assembly election in all four states and one Union Territory - West Bengal, Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. 

Polling is being held for a total of 475 of the total 824 assembly constituencies across the states of Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and the Union territory of Puducherry.

While for West Bengal, the day marks the third in an eight-phase election, in Assam it is the third and final phase of voting. The remaining states/UT –Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry are witnessing a single-phase polling. Counting for all the polls will be held on May 2. 

The polling in West Bengal and Assam had commenced from March 27. The last phase of West Bengal polls will take on April 29. The counting of votes for elections to four states and one UT will be held on May 2.

As many as 18.68 crore electors will cast vote at 2.7 lakh polling stations in Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Kerala, Assam and Puducherry, Arora had said during a press conference here.

The CEC added that the polling time has been increased by one hour and the postal ballot has been extended to voters above age of 80, people with disabilities and people involved in essential services. "Adequate CAPFs deployment shall be ensured during elections. All critical, vulnerable polling stations have been identified and an adequate number of CAPFs will be deployed," CEC Sunil Arora said.