Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry's Anxious Wait Ahead Of Election Results

The counting of postal ballots is set to begin at 8 am on Sunday after which the votes polled in the Electronic Voting Machines are expected to be taken up half an hour later.

All arrangements are in place for counting of votes on Sunday in tune with COVID-19 guidelines for Assembly polls held on April 6 in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry as political parties await results anxiously. In Kerala, as many as 957 candidates, including Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, 11 of his cabinet colleagues, Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala, Senior Congress leader Oommen Chandy, BJP state chief K Surendran, ''Metroman'' E Sreedharan, and former Union minister, KJ Alphons among others were in fray for the 140 assembly seats. Though all the exit polls and pre poll surveys had predicted a massive win for the ruling front, the opposition UDF has not given up hope. In Tamil Nadu, though there were four fronts including actor-politician Kamal Haasan's Makkal Needhi Maiam led combine, the key contest was between the ruling AIADMK and main opposition DMK, which exit polls have predicted that would wrest the reins of power.