With instances of violence increasing with every passing phase in the ongoing eight-phase elections in Bengal, the Election Commission of India has upped the number of security forces for the fourth phase of polling on Saturday.
Accordingly about 80,000 central forces would man the conduct of elections at 12,310 polling station in 44 seats spread across five districts in North and South Bengal. Elections will be held in Coochbehar and Alipurudar districts in North Bengal and South 24 Parganas, Howrah, and Hooghly in the southern part of the State.
Little more than 1.15 crore voters would decide the fate of 373 candidates including 50 women on Saturday. About 69 lakh men, 56.94 lakh women and 293 members of the Third Gender would exercise their franchise in the fourth phase of elections.
Among the notable people whose luck would be tested on Saturday are Bengal Education Minister Partho Chatterjee, Union Minister and Asansol MP Babul Supriyo who is contesting against powerful Bengal Minister Arup Biswas, former Bengal Minister and turncoat BJP leader Rajib Banerjee, Hooghly MLA and minister Becharam Manna who is contesting from Singur, Howrah TMC leader and minister Arup Roy, Bengal Opposition Leader Abdul Mannan, Left Legislature Party Leader Sujan Chakrabarty, CPI(M) politburo member and former MP Md Salim, BJP MP Locket Chatterjee who is contesting from Chinsura, former India cricketer Manoj Tewari who is contesting from Shibpur, senior journalist Rantideb Sengupta and others.
Meanwhile, electoral violence continued in different parts of Bengal with two TMC supporters, one from Nandigram succumbing to their injuries on Friday.
There was midnight bedlam at Chetla are in posh South Kolkata barely a km away from Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s residence where hundreds of TMC and BJP supporters fought with brickbats leaving quite a few of them injured.
Alleged TMC men attacked vandalized and looted shops in Kasba area in south-eastern Kolkata, sources said adding the attackers were asking the people to remain indoors on the polling day. Elsewhere acting on secret information the police recovered a drum full of bombs at Bhangore in eastern fringes of Kolkata where the TMC and ISF are facing each other. At Dubrajpur in Birbhum district two hands of a person was blown up when he was making bombs. He had been hospitalised, sources said.