Polling for the Legislative Assembly elections in Assam, Kerala and Puducherry — along with by-elections in four Assembly constituencies across Karnataka, Nagaland and Tripura — was held on Thursday, April 9, 2026, and largely passed off peacefully, the Election Commission of India (ECI) said, although a few isolated incidents were reported. Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and Election Commissioners S.S. Sandhu and Vivek Joshi monitored polling through live webcasting, deployed across all polling stations in the three regions for the first time.
The ECI reported record turnouts in Assam and Puducherry. Assam recorded an overall turnout of 85.38%, beating its previous high of 84.67% in 2016, while Puducherry logged 89.83%, surpassing its earlier record of 86.19% from 2011. Kerala’s turnout stood at 78.03%. In the by-elections, Koridang in Nagaland saw 82.21% turnout and Dharmanagar in Tripura recorded 80.04%. In Karnataka, Bagalkot-24 and Davanagere South-107 reported turnout of 68.70% and 68.55% respectively.
A total of 296 Assembly constituencies across the three states and the union territory, with an electorate of more than 5.31 crore, went to the polls at 63,084 polling stations. More than 2.5 lakh polling personnel were deployed to ensure smooth conduct; officials said over 2.5 lakh staff had reached polling stations the night before and mock polls were completed before 7 am in the presence of more than 1.8 lakh polling agents appointed by 1,899 contesting candidates.
The ECI highlighted several voter-friendly measures introduced for these elections, including easily identifiable colour photographs of candidates on EVM ballot papers, a Mobile Deposit Facility (MDF) to aid voting, newly designed Voter Information Slips (VIS) for improved readability, and a cap of up to 1,200 electors per polling station. Special arrangements such as wheelchairs, volunteer assistance and transport facilities were provided to improve accessibility for persons with disabilities.
As part of the International Election Visitors’ Programme (IEVP), 38 delegates from 22 countries observed the polling. While officials described the process as largely peaceful, some poll-related clashes were reported in Assam, with around 30 people injured and seven arrested, according to accompanying reports. Presiding officers were instructed to update voter-turnout data before leaving polling stations to minimise reporting delays.
Original Source: https://nenews.in/politics/assam-and-puducherry-record-highest-ever-voter-turnout-in-assembly-elections/47558/
Category: Politics,Assembly elections,by-election,Election Commission of India (ECI)
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Publish Date: 2026-04-09 22:24:00
