In the mega phase of the eight-phased assembly elections across four states -Assam, Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Union Territory of Puducherry – over 20 crore people are voting to elect their legislative government. For Tamil Nadu, Kerala and the union territory of Puducherry, this is the first and only phase of polling. Assam will wrap up the electoral exercise with its third and the final phase today while West Bengal, the most-watched and politically volatile state, will continue to vote till April 27 spread across five more phases.

Here’s your 10-point update to this massive exercise taken by EC during COVID-19 pandemic.

1. In Bengal, over 78.5 lakh eligible voters will decide the fate of 205 candidates, including BJP leader Swapan Dasgupta, state minister Ashima Patra and CPI(M) leader Kanti Ganguly.

2. The Election Commission has declared all the 31 seats in Bengal as ‘sensitive’ and imposed prohibitory orders under Section 144 of CrPC.

3. 618 companies of central forces have been deployed to guard 10,871 polling stations in Bengal. State police forces have also been deputed at strategic locations to aid the central forces.

4. In Kerala, polling began for the 140 seats at 7 am amid heavy security.

5. ‘Metroman’ E Sreedharan, who is the BJP-NDA candidate from Kerala’s Palakkad constituency, was among the early voters in the state. “I have cast my vote, have good expectations”, he told reporters after exercising his franchise at a polling booth in Ponnani.

6. Polling is being held in 234 Assembly seats in Tamil Nadu. A total of 3,998 candidates including heavyweights like Chief Minister K Palaniswami, deputy CM O Panneerselvam, DMK President M K Stalin, AMMK founder TTV Dhinakaran and Makkal Needhi Maiam President Kamal Haasan are in the fray.

7. In the third and final phase of polling, Assam will vote on 40 of the 126 assembly constituencies. 79.2 lakh eligible voters will decide the fate of 337 candidates, including senior minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, his five cabinet colleagues and state BJP president Ranjeet Kumar Dass.

8. At several polling stations in Assam, the first voter and senior citizens were greeted with a ‘gamosa’ (traditional towel) and, in some cases, with saplings.

9. Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to Twitter and appealed voters to vote in record numbers in five different languages.

10. Actors-turned-politicians Kamal Hassan and Rajinikanth were seen among the early voters to cast their votes in their respective constituencies. Kamal Hassan was accompanied by his daughters-Shruti Hassan and Akshara Hassan.