Picture : ANI/X
A day after the Election Commission announced the schedule for upcoming Assembly polls, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said it seems that the polling dates and structuring of phases have been decided to suit the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s convenience.
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor also expressed surprise over the poll schedule, saying an early election in Kerala has taken “us aback”.
Assembly polls will be held on a single day in Assam, Kerala, Puducherry (April 9) and Tamil Nadu (April 23) and in two phases in West Bengal — on April 23 and April 29 — while the counting of votes for all the elections will be taken up on May 4, the EC announced .
Asked about the dates and scheduling, Priyanka Gandhi said, “The election dates that have been announced and the way the phases have been structured, it seems to have been decided according to the BJP’s convenience.”
According to PTI report, Tharoor, talking to reporters in the Parliament House complex, said, “Kerala is an important election. It is a very important challenge for us because we have had the LDF government coming back to power last time, which is unusual because for half a century, the two fronts have alternated in government. We do not want to allow them to repeat.”
“A very surprisingly early election has taken us all aback. We were all expecting the voting to take place in the last 10 days of April, but on April 9, we will have voting in Kerala. That means it is just barely three weeks left,” the Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram said.
