Campaigning for fifth phase of Bengal elections ends

April 14, 2021 20:44

Campaigning for the fifth phase of the West Bengal assembly elections to 45 seats ended on Wednesday.

The campaigning ended at 6.30 pm, while polling is scheduled to be held on April 17. The Election Commission increased the silence period from 48 to 72 hours in view of the Cooch Behar killings in the fourth phase.

A total of 1.13 crore voters are eligible to cast their votes to decide the fate of 342 candidates, including Siliguri Mayor and Left Front leader Ashok Bhattacharya, state minister Bratya Basu and BJP's Samik Bhattacharya.

Polling will be held from 7 am to 6.30 pm at 15,789 polling stations in 16 assembly seats in North 24 Parganas, eight each in Purba Bardhaman and Nadia, seven in Jalpaiguri, five Darjeeling and one in Kalimpong district.

In view of the Cooch Behar killings, in which four people were killed in CISF firing and one man was shot dead by unidentified persons outside a booth in Sitalkuchi, the EC has decided to deploy at least 853 companies of central forces to ensure free and fair voting, an election official said.

The BJP's star campaigners including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, party chief J P Nadda and actor Mithun Chakraborty had addressed several rallies in the region, attacking the TMC over corruption charges.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her nephew and Diamond Harbour MP Abhishek Banerjee, on the other hand, attacked the Centre over fuel price rise.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi also addressed rallies in the state on Saturday.

The BJP led in more assembly seats than the TMC in the region in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

The TMC had won 32 seats in the 2016 assembly polls, the Left-Congress alliance 10, while the BJP had drawn a blank.

Votes polled in the eight-phase assembly elections being held from March 27 to April 29 will be counted on May 2. -- PTI

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