After days of high decibel, intense campaigning by political parties and central leaders, voting for the second phase of Assembly elections in West Bengal and Assam will take place today. A total of 69 seats spread across both the states are at stake.
Both Assam and West Bengal have been promised lucrative projects and delivering on existing development schemes. While the central issue in the Bengal polls has been the “insider versus outsider” debate, elections in
Assam have been centred on the issue of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
The BJP is relying on its development agenda to return to power in Assam, while its campaign in West Bengal has been focused on attacking the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) government over alleged cases of corruption. The constituency of Nandigram has also emerged as a major battleground, where Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee is battling confidante-turned-adversary Suvendu Adhikari.
Polling will be held in 30 seats in the second phase in West Bengal. All the booths where polling will be held in this phase have been declared “sensitive”, the Election Commission told PTI. Unlike last time, the EC is in charge of the state’s security during the elections and has deployed several companies of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) in the state. A total of 199 companies of the CAPF will be deployed in Purba Medinipur, 210 companies in Paschim Medinipur, 170 in South 24 Parganas and 72 in Bankura.
The 30 Bengal constituencies observed the “silence period” on Wednesday, which normally begins 48 hours before the voting day and ends after the conclusion of polling, and stipulates that there should not be any direct or indirect reference amounting to soliciting support for parties or candidates. Star campaigners and other political leaders are also required to refrain from addressing the media by way of press conferences and giving interviews on election matters. However, CM Mamata Banerjee held election rallies in Hooghly and Howrah districts to boost the TMC’s prospects. While Banerjee campaigned in other parts of the state, Adhikari met with his party workers and discussed logistics for 1 April.
In Assam, the high-octane poll campaign for the second phase also ended on Tuesday. Thursday’s polls are the second and penultimate phase of the State Assembly polls, which will begin at 7 am and decide the fate of 345 candidates in 39 constituencies across 13 districts. The election in the second phase includes 15 Assembly seats in the Barak Valley.
The ruling BJP is contesting in 34 seats while its allies, the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL), are contesting in six and three seats, respectively. The saffron party will have a friendly contest with AGP and UPPL in two seats each.
The BJP is banking on the performance of the Sarbanand Sonowal government in the state in the past five years, the initiatives of the central government and the appeal of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In the 2016 polls, BJP had bagged eight seats – six from Cachar district and two from bordering Karimganj district, which shares a boundary with Bangladesh.
Congress has stitched a broad alliance that includes All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), Communist Party of India, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation, the Anchalik Gana Marcha (AGM) and the Bodoland Peoples’ Front (BPF).
Meanwhile, jailed activist Akhil Gogoi’s Raijor Dal has stitched an alliance with Assam Jatiya Parishad.
A total of 310 CAPF companies and 90 companies of Assam state police have been deployed for the second phase of polling.
In the first phase of voting on March 27, West Bengal and Assam had recorded a turnout of 84.63% and 79.97%, respectively.