Bengal gears up for today’s Phase VI polls
KOLKATA: Over one crore voters in West Bengal will decide the political fate of 306 candidates on Thursday, when 43 assembly constituencies go to polls in the sixth 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 phase of polling on April 10, an Election Commission official said. Both the TMC and the BJP have pitched hard to gain the confidence of Matuas, who make for a large chunk of the state’s Scheduled Caste population, in most of the 17 Assembly segments going to polls in this phase in North 24 Parganas district and some of the nine seats in Nadia.
Apart from these constituencies, elections will be held in nine seats in Uttar Dinajpur district and eight in Purba Bardhaman. Meanwhile, The Election Commission told the Trinamool Congress that its suggestion to club the remaining three phases of West Bengal Assembly polls was not implementable.
PC urges voters to speak for entire nation
Congress leader P Chidambaram on Wednesday held the BJP responsible for the ‘medical catastrophe’ and urged the people of West Bengal to speak for the entire nation while voting in the Assembly polls. “An election is to hold the government accountable. The hopes of the entire nation are in the hands of the voters of W(est) Bengal,” Chidambaram tweeted.