Polling began for high-stakes electoral battles in two states, Assam and Kerala as well as the Union Territory of Puducherry, on Thursday at 7 am.Voting will be held for 126 seats in Assam, 140 in Kerala and 30 in Puducherry in this phase of the election.Tamil Nadu will go to the polls on April 23, and West Bengal on April 23 and 29.Votes will be counted on May 4.PM Modi appeals to people of Assam, Kerala, Puducherry to vote in large numbersApril 9, 2026 8:58 amNew Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday appealed to the people of Assam, Kerala and Puducherry to exercise their franchise in large numbers in the assembly elections in the two states and the Union Territory. In separate messages in English, besides Assamese, Malayalam and Tamil — the regional languages of Assam, Kerala and Puducherry respectively — PM Modi particularly requested the youth and the women to step forward and vote in large numbers. PTIVoting begins for Assam’s 126 assembly seatsApril 9, 2026 8:58 amGuwahati: Polling for all 126 Assam assembly constituencies began on Thursday to decide the electoral fate of 722 candidates, officials said. In the high-stakes election, the ruling BJP is aiming for a third consecutive term in office, while the Congress seeks to wrest power after being ousted in 2016. Polling, being held in a single phase, began at 7 am and will conclude at 5 pm. Long queues of voters were seen outside polling stations from early morning. An electorate of 2.50 crore, including 1.25 crore women and 318 from the third gender, can exercise their franchise in 31,490 polling stations across the state. PTIVoting begins in Puducherry amid tight securityApril 9, 2026 8:58 amPuducherry: Voting commenced amid tight security across the union territory of Puducherry on Thursday with 9.50 lakh voters set to decide the electoral fortunes of the ruling NDA and the opposition INDIA bloc. Voters lined up enthusiastically before the polling stations in Puducherry, and its enclaves of Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam to exercise their franchise. Polling began at 7 am. The Union Territory has a total of 9.50 lakh voters spread over Puducherry (23 Assembly segments) Karaikal (five), Mahe and Yanam (having one constituency each). According to officials, the union territory has 1,099 polling stations and of them 209 have been identified as vulnerable and a total of 294 candidates are in the fray. PTIPolling begins in 140 Assembly seats in KeralaApril 9, 2026 8:58 amThiruvananthapuram: Polling in all the 140 Assembly constituencies in Kerala commenced at 7 am on Thursday. The voting began after completion of mock polling. People started arriving early in the morning at the 30,495 polling stations in the state to avoid the hot weather that was likely to get worse as the day progressed. Polling was carried out amidst tight security arrangements which included deployment of over 76,000 security personnel and live monitoring of the election process by an extensive webcasting system. Around 2.71 crore voters will decide the fate of the 883 candidates who are contesting from the 140 Assembly constituencies in the state. PTI