Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Apr 3: The Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a grand roadshow in Puducherry on Friday and sought support for the AINRC-BJP alliance in the April 9 election to the territorial Assembly.
In Neighbouring Tamil Nadu, the BJP released its list of all the 27 candidates but surprisingly the party’s former state president K Annamalai did not figure in the list. The BJP has been allocated 27 seat by the NDA-leader AIADMK in the state. In the rival front led by the DMK, the Congress allocated 28 seats, released the names of 27 candidates on Friday.
Senior Congress leader Pawan Khera accused the BJP of diverting attention from key issues in Assam by creating unnecessary controversies and shaping the public discourse around them. The Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that PM Modi and Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma have prepared a roadmap for tribal development and the BJP’s return to power in the State would ensure its implementation.
In Kerala, the Kannur district leadership of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued s legal notice to the All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary in-charge of organisation KC Venugopal over his allegation regarding the fabrication of fake Aadhaar cards in Payyanur. The move follows Mr Venugopal’s allegation that fake Aadhaar cards were being produced at the CPI(M) Payyanur office to manipulate the electoral process.
In West Bengal, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has taken “serious note” of over 2,100 police personnel in poll-bound West Bengal being deployed for the security of nearly 1,000 people linked directly or indirectly to the ruling TMC and asked the police chief to review the arrangement, officials said on Friday.
The ECI officials said that before the announcement of elections on March 15, the West Bengal government had deployed 2,185 police personnel to provide security to 832 people associated directly with the TMC and 144 others, including party supporters.
They said the poll authority has taken “serious note” of the “lapse” and has directed the director general of police to carry out a strict professional review within the next two to three days of the deployment of police personnel for personal security in a “fair and equitable” manner.
The ECI also said around 500 companies of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) will continue to remain deployed in West Bengal even after counting of votes on May 4 for post-poll law and order duties. An Election Commission official said on Friday that an additional 200 CAPF companies would be retained in the state for security of electronic voting machines (EVMs), strong rooms and counting centres, the official said.
“Around 500 companies of CAPFs shall continue to remain deployed in West Bengal for post-poll law and order duties even after the completion of counting, till further orders,” the official said.
Senior TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee on Friday said his party would stand by people whose names were found deleted after the publication of supplementary electoral rolls and alleged attempts to deprive genuine voters of their rights.
Alleging “sustained pressure” by the BJP on the ECI to delete names of genuine voters and include those from other states through Form 6, the TMC national general secretary said, “We have to be on guard 24×7 to foil the bid to deprive the electorate of Bengal of voting rights.”
Mr Banerjee, who was addressing a rally at Khanakul in West Bengal’s Hooghly district in support of the TMC candidate, said, “We will be on vigil to stop deletion of a single authorised voter. We will not allow them to get away with that.” “There is the next hearing date at the Supreme Court on April 6. We will wait. But let me assert, if your name is absent from the rolls, the party will take up the matter with the CEO’s office. Also, if your name is missing, make an online appeal through our department,” he said.
Even though Annamalai had earlier stated that he was not interested in contesting the Assembly elections this time, yet reports in local media said while the alliance leader AIADMK offered him the Palladam seat to contest for the BJP, Annamalai insisted on Singanallur or Koundampalayam, constituencies in the Coimbatore parliamentary segment that he had contested in 2024.
Last year, Nainar Naginthiran replaced K Annamalai as the state BJP chief, being the only one to have filed nomination for the post which meant he was chosen by the top leadership. As for Annamalai, the former Indian Police Service (IPS) officer resigned from his job and joined the BJP in 2020. He became closely associated with PM Narendra Modi’s outreach in the South, frequently appearing alongside him at major rallies and carrying the party’s message to the grassroots.
The 2021 Tamil Nadu election results were a humbling reality check for the BJP. Contesting 20 seats as part of its alliance with the AIADMK, the party won just four, with a vote share of 2.6%. The 2021 results were better than 2016 on paper, but only just. In 2016, the BJP had contested 188 seats on its own, won none, with a vote share of 2.84%; in 2021, it was in alliance with the AIADMK, managed four wins, but actually saw its vote share dip to 2.6%. State unit president L Murugan, senior leader H Raja, actor-politician Khushboo Sundar, and then-newcomer K Annamalai all lost their contests in 2021.
Annamalai quickly rose to lead the state unit, tasked with rebuilding the BJP base and expanding its support beyond parts of Kanyakumari and Coimbatore. His headline-grabbing style increased the party’s visibility in a landscape long dominated by the Dravidian parties, DMK and AIADMK, analysts noted.
But the Lok Sabha elections in 2024, in which the BJP-led NDA and AIADMK-led alliance each failed to win a single parliamentary seat in the state, was a setback. He stepped down as the state BJP head to bring back the AIADMK into the NDA fold in April 2025. The AIADMK had in 2024 quit the BJP-led bloc blaming Annamalai for calling Dravidian stalwarts corrupt. Annamalai had been against an alliance with the AIADMK but after the reunion he committed to working for the alliance.
