High-pitch campaigning for 2nd phase of W.Bengal & Assam Assy poll ends
Tuesday, 30 March 2021 (21:09 IST)
Kolkata: With the ruling Trinamool Congress facing its toughest challenge to retain power for the third successive term and the saffron brigade pulling out all the stops to come to the saddle, a high voltage campaign for the second phase of West Bengal Assembly poll on April one for thirty constituencies in four districts ended this evening.
In the second phase of polling, elections will be held in 4 districts and 30 assembly seats. The districts include Bankura Part II, East Midnapore Part II, West Midnapore Part II and South 24 Parganas Part I on April 1.
In the second phase, 171 candidates will be vying for the 30 seats in which 19(11%) are female candidates.
The campaign was marked by war of words among the ruling Trinamool Congress, the BJP and the Left-Congress-ISF combine Sanyukt Morcha.Nandigram is one of the key constituencies in Purba Medinipur district where Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is in the fray.
Nandigram has become the epicenter of the battle for Bengal as Chief Minister has shifted her seat from Bhawanipur to this constituency. BJP has fielded her erstwhile lieutenant Shubhendu Adhikari in this seat while youth leader of CPI(M) Minakshi Mukherjee is contesting as the Sanyukt Morcha candidate.BJP, Trinamool Congress, Sanyukta Morcha have left no stone unturned to woo the voters
Star campaigners of BJP, Trinamool Congress and Samyukta Morcha were busy in rallies and roadshows. Apart from this, candidates were focused on street Corner meetings. Small gatherings were taking place in towns and villages.
The Party workers were knocked the doors to provide information about their candidates. Paintings of party slogans and election symbols are being seen on the walls in rural areas, while houses and avenues are dotted with party flags.
The Election Commission has made elaborate security arrangements with the deployment of central and state forces to ensure a free fair and peaceful poll.
The Election Commission, which has already warned that any act of violence would not be tolerated during elections time, has reiterated with a fresh warning and has empowered the security forces to act in self-defence in case any threat to their life by the miscreants during
second phased polls.
The EC's fresh warning came after bomb attacks on Patashpur police station officer Dipak Chakraborty and a central force personnel at Arwalm village in East Medinipur district on March 26, a few hours before the first phase polling.
If the situation demanded then the poll duty personnel could use weapons to drive away the attackers, a source in the EC said on Tuesday.
Some 651 companies of central forces to guard all the polling booths across the four districts. of those companies, 210 to be deployed in West Medinipur,199 in East Medinipur, 170 in Bankura and 72 companies in South 24 Parganas.
In Nandigram where CPIM candidate Minakshi Mukherjee is also contesting for United Front, the administration has decided to deploy 21 companies for 341 polling booths ( all sensitive).
The commission also ordered the forces of the state and central to enhance coordination between them.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP national president JP Nadda, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Cabinet Minister Smriti Irani, Nitin Gadkari, Dharmendra Pradhan, Uttar Pradesh/Chief minister Yogi Adityanath, West Bengal BJP in-charge Kailash Vijayvargiya, West Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh were the star campaigners for BJP
Actors-turned-politicians such as Locket Chatterjee, Roopa Ganguly, Babul Supriyo, Manoj Tiwari, Srabanti Chatterjee, Paayel Sarkar and Hiran Chatterjee were also campaigned for the BJP
West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee, Trinamool Youth Congress president Abhishek Banerjee, state Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and senior Left leaders were campaigned for their respective fronts.
West Bengal assembly election is going to be a high stake event as both BJP and TMC have unleashed challenge against each other.Even months before the polls, BJP has been aggressively campaigning in the state, targeting the incumbent Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee-led TMC government.
Several big names of the TMC have left their party and joined BJP ahead of the election, questioning the conduct of the Mamata Banerjee led state government.Names like Suvendu Adhikari, Rajib Banerjee, Baishali Dalmiya, former Howrah mayor Rathin Chakraborty and actor Rudranil Ghosh, others have joined the BJP ahead of elections.
The campaign was characterised by a no-holds barred tirade of allegations and counter-allegations and ruling Trinamool Congress going all out to retain power for the third successive term.
The Trinamool Congress chief called upon the people to defeat the BJP while the Prime Minister urged voters to exercise their franchise in his party's favour.
It is for the first-time when PM Modi-led Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) has hogged the limelight in the state. The BJP is aiming to make a debut as the ruling party in Bengal. If the BJP comes to power, then this 2021 assembly election will be remembered for bringing a paradigm shift in the political narrative of West Bengal.
The assembly election in West Bengal will be held in eight phases. The voting will take place in eight phases--on March 27, April 1, April 6, April 10, April 17, April 22, April 26 and April 29.The counting of votes will take place on May 2.
Campaigning for second phase comes to end in Assam
Guwahati:Campaigning for the second phase of the Assam Assembly election 2021 came to an end at 6 pm today.The second phase of the three-phased Assam Assembly election will be held on April 1.While the first phase of the polls was held on March 27, 2021, the third phase will be held on April 6, 2021, ahead of the Rongali Bihu.
There are a total of 345 candidates, including 26 women, in the fray in the second phase of the Assembly election.There are 37 out of 345 candidates in the second phase of the Assam Assembly election, who have criminal records.
Out of 37 candidates with criminal cases, 30 have declared serious criminal cases against themselves.The second phase of election in Assam will be held for a total of 39 Assembly seats including 15 seats in the Barak Valley.
In the second phase, a total of 73,44,631 voters, including 37,34,537 males, 36,09,959 females and 135 transgender, will decide the fate of the candidates on April 1, the polling day.
The second phase of Assam Assembly election will be held in 13 districts, including Karimganj, Hailakandi, Cachar, Dima Hasao, Karbi Anglong, West Karbi Anglong , Kamrup (Rural), Nalbari, Udalguri, Morigaon, Nagaon, Hojai and Darrang.On the last day of the campaign of Phase two, BJP President J P Nadda, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi campaigned in various constituencies going to polls on April 1.(UNI)
