55.12 Per Cent Voter Turnout Recorded Till 1 Pm in 34 Assembly Seats in West Bengal for the seventh part. Over 86 lakh voters will vote to resolve the destiny of 284 candidates throughout 34 meeting constituencies, together with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s dwelling turf Bhabanipur.
Voting will probably be held at 12,068 polling stations unfold over 9 meeting constituencies every in Murshidabad and Paschim Bardhaman districts, six every in Dakshin Dinajpur and Malda and 4 in Kolkata, the official mentioned.
TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee, after casting his vote in Kolkata, predicted a 2/3rd majority for the Mamata Banerjee authorities.
The voter turnout until 1 pm in Dakshin Dinajpur was 58.83%, Malda – 58.10%, Murshidabad -60.50%, South Kolkata- 41.66% and Paschim Bardhaman – 50.47%.
CM Mamata Banerjee will deal with a press convention at 2 pm. There have been minor reviews of scuffle from throughout the state. In Paschim Bardhaman, TMC employee accused the CRPF personnel of beating social gathering employees in entrance of the sales space. CRPFs weren’t permitting TMC Booth agent within the sales space, social gathering employees alleged.
ANI reported {that a} BJP polling agent Sankar Sakar alleges he was forcefully pushed out of sales space no.91 by TMC members and made to depart the spot in Bakhra village of Ratua, Malda. A TMC member says, “He just isn’t a voter right here so we requested him to depart respectfully. Nobody threatened him.”
Security measures have been heightened in view of the violence in the previous phases, particularly the death of five people in Cooch Behar in the fourth round of polling on April 10, an Election Commission official said. The poll panel has decided to deploy at least 796 companies of central forces in the seventh phase to ensure free and fair voting, he said.
All eyes will be on the Bhabanipur constituency, of which the TMC supremo is the sitting MLA and a resident. Banerjee, however, has opted for Nandigram to contest the elections this time and reposed faith in veteran politician and state power minister Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay to make a hat-trick of wins for the party from Bhabanipur.
Chattopadhyay is pitted against a seasoned actor but a greenhorn in electoral politics, Rudranil Ghosh, who left the ruling party a few months ago to join the BJP. State minister Firhad Hakim is also seeking re- election for a third consecutive term from the Kolkata Port constituency, while the BJP fielded Lt General (Retired) Subrata Saha from the Rashbehari seat in the metropolis.
Campaigning for the seventh phase has been a low-key affair, following curbs imposed by the EC in the wake of the second wave of COVID-19 cases in the state. Following the surge in coronavirus cases across the country, the EC has banned roadshows and vehicle rallies in the state and noted that the COVID safety norms were being flouted in West Bengal during campaigning.
It also disallowed any public meeting with more than 500 people. The Election Commission has curtailed daily campaign hours and extended the “silence period” from 48 hours to 72 in every of the remaining three phases of the meeting polls in view of the Cooch Behar violence and the rising COVID-19 circumstances.
Polling for two meeting seats in Samserganj and Jangipur in Murshidabad district has been declared void following the deaths of two candidates there.
The Election Commission has fastened May 16 for the polling in these two seats.
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