Amid threats and counter-threats by Opposing parties and apprehension of violence, West Bengal will go to polls in the second phase of the ongoing Assembly elections on Sunday.
The elections will held for 56 constituencies, with over 1.2 crore people sealing the fate of 383 candidates, including 33 women spread over Alipurduar, Jalpaiguri, Darjeeling, two Dinajpurs, Malda in North Bengal and Birbhum in South.
Out of the 56 seats all eyes will be on 11 in Birbhum and Siliguri where former State Minister Ashok Bhattacharya of the CPI(M) is facing former footballer Baichung Bhutia of the TMC.
At Dubrajpur, Siuri, Nalhati, Rampurhat, Sainthia, Hasan and Murarai which have been classified as lWE areas voting will end at 4 pm whereas in the other seats it will continue till 6 pm, EC sources said.
There are 13,600 polling stations out of which 2,909 have been identified as sensitive or highly sensitive. Notwithstanding maximum number of violence been reported from Birbhum most number of vulnerable seats polling stations have been earmarked in Malda.
Meanwhile, the BJP on Saturday approached the Election Commission seeking action against Bengal Chief Secretary Basudeb Banerjee who had earlier written the reply for Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee who had been show-caused by the ECI for her threat statements against the opposition parties.
“How can the CS answer on behalf of the CM for political speeches made in election ralliesIJ” BJP’s JP Majumdar asked adding “we have asked the Commission to show-cause him.” Meanwhile the Commission shot off another show-cause notice to Anubrata Mandal for using foul words against
Opposition leaders. However a defiant Mandal again said he did not care what the Commission said. “I will answer when I get the letters,” he said adding such things come to him daily.