Kolkata/Guwahati:
In Assam: The second and final phase of Assam Assembly elections began at 7 AM today amid tight security to decide the fate of 525 candidates in 61 of the 126 constituencies with ruling Congress, BJP-AGP-BPF alliance and AIUDF locked in a keen contest.
An electorate of 1,04,35,271, comprising 53,91,204 males, 50,44,051 females and 22 others, will exercise their franchise in 12,699 polling stations to decide the fate of 477 male and 48 female candidates in Lower and Central Assam.
More than 50,000 polling personnel have been deployed with security tightened across the constituencies, particularly those in four Bodoland Territorial Area Districts (BTAD) where NDFB(S) militants are active and in Goalpara district which recently witnessed a bomb blast.
Security has been also stepped up in minority dominated constituencies. A strict vigil is being maintained along the Indo-Bangla border in Dhubri district and Indo-Bhutan border in Baksa district.
While Congress is contesting in 57 seats, AIUDF, the major opposition party in the outgoing assembly, in 47, BJP in 35 while its allies—the Bodo Peoples’ Front (BPF) in 10 and Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) in 19. CPI(M) is contesting in nine, CPI in five, unrecognised parties in 129 and independents in 214.
Among the prominent candidates are cabinet ministers Rakibul Hussain, Chandan Sarkar and Naz
rul Islam for the Congress, former two-time AGP Chief Minister Prafulla Mahanta, AIUDF Chief and Dhubri MP Badruddin Ajmal and former Congress minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who led a dissidence against the Chief Minister before joining the BJP last year.
While Congress looks forward to retain power for the fourth successive term, BJP called for a ‘parivartan’ (change) and AIUDF aims to play the king-maker in the formation of the next government.
In Kolkata: The second part of phase one of West Bengal Assembly polls for 31 seats, where the future of top state opposition leaders is at stake, began this morning.
An alliance of Left Front and Congress have put up a tough fight against Trinamool Congress which aspires to come to power for a consecutive second term.
Altogether 163 candidates, including 21 women, are in the fray in those 31 seats of West Midnapore, Bankura and Burdwan districts.
Around 70 lakh people are eligible to cast their votes between 7 AM and 6 PM.
Electorate in Bankura and Burdwan districts will have a tough time fighting the scorching sun as the districts are reeling under heatwave conditions with temperatures soearing above 40 degree Celsius.
Provisions for shade and drinking water have been made in many polling booths.
A multi-tier security system including two helicopters, quick response teams and flying squads has also been made.
The Election Commission has not provided information about critical polling booths and also refused to specify the number of companies of security forces deployed.
The Central Armed Police Forces have been mandated the responsibility of handling situation inside the booths, while the state police forces are involved in other jobs like maintaining queues and managing crowd. Nearly 1,500 micro-observers, 23 general observers and over 36,600 polling personnel have been deployed in this phase.
Polling is being held at 8,465 polling stations amid tight security. Of the about 70 lakh voters in this phase 33.6 lakh are women and 50 belong to the third gender. Five more phases of polling will be held in the state till May 5.
Repoll in two booths of Bankura and West Midnapore districts, where polling was held in the first part of the first phase poll on April 4, is also being held today.
Besides TMC and the Left-Congress alliance, the BJP, which has only one MLA in the outgoing Assembly, has also fielded candidates from all the seats in the hope of making it a triangular fight.
Five-time CPI-M MLA from Narayangarh and Leader of Opposition Surjya Kanta Mishra, senior state Congress leader Manas Bhuniya from Sabang are among the major candidates in this phase.
91-year-old Gyan Singh Sohanpal, the senior most member in the Assembly, is in the fray again from Kharagpur Sadar seat where he is pitted against BJP state president Dilip Ghosh.
