7th Phase: 34 constituencies go to polls in Bengal today

Over 86 lakh voters in West Bengal will decide the political fate of 284 candidates on Monday, when 34 assembly constituencies, including Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’’s home turf Bhabanipur, go to polls in the seventh phase, amid a raging second wave of COVID-19.

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.

It will also put in place measures to ensure strict adherence to COVID-19

protocols during the voting process, the official said. Voting will be held at 12,068 polling stations spread over nine assembly constituencies each in Murshidabad and Paschim Bardhaman districts, six each in Dakshin Dinajpur and Malda and four in Kolkata, the official said.

All eyes will be on the Bhabanipur constituency, of which the TMC supremo is the sitting MLA and a resident. Banerjee, however, 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 Rudranil Ghosh, who left the ruling party a few months ago to join the BJP.