Amid raging pandemic, all set for Assembly poll results

Counting of votes has begun in the high-stakes Assam, West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry assembly elections.

Overshadowed by the raging Covid pandemic, the BJP seeks to consolidate its hold over more states and the Congress along with its allies attempts to regain lost turf.

Exit polls have forecast a tight contest between the incumbent Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress and the BJP in West Bengal. The ruling saffron combine is predicted to be ahead in Assam while in Kerala the projecting that the Left alliance will retain power, a feat unseen in four decades.

For the Congress, the exit polls predicted that it may fall short in Assam and Kerala and lose in Puducherry.

The only good news for the Congress was from Tamil Nadu, where the exit polls predicted that the DMK-led opposition alliance will trounce the AIADMK-BJP coalition.