Assembly elections to be held in two phases in West Bengal
KOLKATA: West Bengal is all set to witness Assembly polls in 294 constituencies in two phases.
The first phase polls in 152 constituencies in north Bengal districts, Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar, Cooch Behar, South Dinajpur, North Dinajpur, North Dinajpur, Malda, and Murshidabad, Birbhum, East Midnapore, West Midnapore and West Bardhaman, Purulia and Bankura in south Bengal will take place on April 23.
The second phase scheduled on April 29 will cover 142 seats in Kolkata, Howrah, South 24 Parganas, North 24 Parganas, Hooghly, Purba Bardhaman and Nadia.
Leading political parties in the State, including the BJP, CPI-M-led Left Front, Congress and the Indian Secular Front (ISF), in a meeting with the full Bench led by the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar of the Election Commission of India (ECI) in Kolkata, urged to conduct the elections in one or two phases for a violence-free, peaceful and fear-free environment.
The Opposition parties had argued that violence and terror unleashed allegedly by Trinamool Congress could be prevented if the elections were held in one or a maximum of two phases.
Notably, the Trinamool Congress leadership had expressed displeasure with the ECI for holding elections in the State in two phases.
“In the last 2021 assembly elections, the BJP had demanded elections in eight phases, though we had requested the Commission to wrap it up in four phases, considering the COVID-19 pandemic. But, it will be held in two phases due to the BJP’s demand,” said Kunal Ghosh, Trinamool Congress spokesperson.
“BJP will secure only 27 seats in elections this year, compared to 77 seats it won in 2021. We will come back again, irrespective of the number of phases announced by the commission. People know well which party stays beside in times of need throughout the year. It is Trinamool Congress workers who are always with people during their crisis,” Kunal said.
Meanwhile, Samik Bhattacharya, Bengal BJP president, welcoming the ECI announcement, said, “People will see a new government led by BJP in Bengal within a few days, and we will run the government from the Writers’ Buildings, instead of Nabanna.”
“We will implement all schemes, including women security, Rs 3000 per month, employment generation for migrant workers from Bengal, implementation of DA of state government employees as per the 7th Pay Commission etc within 42 days after the publication of election results,” Bhattacharya said.
“We will see whether the Commission can hold elections without fear, favour and violence. We will keep watch whether all dead voters are removed from the list and every genuine voter, including those 60 lakh voters who belong to logical discrepancies, who are awaiting clearance of the judicial officers for their voting rights, are included in the electoral rolls,” said Md Salim, CPI-M state secretary.
“The significant part is how far the commission can protect the democratic rights of every voter through free, fair and peaceful elections in Bengal. The number of phases hardly matters if all voters cannot cast their votes without fear. We still are in the dark about the fate of the 60 lakh voters categorised as ‘under adjudication,’” said Subhomoy Moitra, a political analyst.
Assembly elections in the State were held in two phases in 1976 when the CPI-M-led Left Front, headed by Jyoti Basu as Chief Minister,r had formed the government.
Notably, in the last assembly polls in 2021, elections were held in eight phases.