West Bengal Election 2021Update on 10-4-21

On Saturday, West Bengal will see its fourth phase of elections of the eight scheduled phases, as a total of 44 seats, spread over five districts, will go to the polls between 7 am and 6 pm.

This phase is expected to be one of the most vigilant stretches of the electoral process in the politically charged state since most of the people who must vote are in the North Bengal region, where the BJP had managed to advance during the last Lok Sabha choices. The BJP will strive to maintain its strength in the North Bengal region, while the TMC will seek to make up lost ground amid shifting political equations.

The 44 seats planned for the polls are in Cooch Behar and Alipurduar districts in North Bengal and in parts of South 24 Parganas, Howrah, and Hoogly in the southern part of the state.

Once considered a stronghold of Congress and the Front Left, the north Bengal districts, mostly dominated by tribal and minority communities, have largely remained outside the boundaries of the TMC, except for a short period of time.

The districts in the southern parts also contain some intermediate seats.

The ruling camp had fared well in the 2016 state elections when it won 25 seats in the region, but the subsequent general elections in 2019 turned the tide of the wind in favor of the BJP, which won seven of the eight Lok Sabha seats. and stayed ahead in 35 montage segments. However, the TMC, which lifted its socks after the Lok Sabha electoral debacle, managed to attract GJM leader Bimal Gurung, who dominates at least 15 Assembly seats and 11 Gorkha communities.

BJP State Chairman Dilip Ghosh stated that his party is confident of sweeping North Bengal in this election. Denying it, the senior TMC leader and state minister, Gautam Deb, claimed that “the tables would be turned against rivals” and that the ruling party would be victorious in the northern part of the state.

Date and time of the survey

Voting for Phase IV will begin at 7 a.m. M. And it will conclude at 6:30 p.m. M. From today, April 10, when a total of 1,15,81,022 voters will decide the fate of 373 candidates in electoral districts spread over Howrah (Part II), South 24 Parganas (Part III), Hooghly (Part II), Alipurduar and Cooch Behar.

Of the 44 constituencies, nine constituencies of the assembly are in Howrah, 11 in South 24 Parganas, five in Alipurduar, nine in Coochbehar, and ten in Hooghly.

The Electoral Commission has deployed 789 companies of the Central Armed Police (CAPF) in 15,940 polling stations distributed in the 44 electoral districts that go to the polls. The largest deployment of 187 CAPF companies has been in Cooch Behar, which has witnessed sporadic incidents of violence in the run-up to the elections, including an attack on BJP state president Dilip Ghosh.

Key candidates in the fray

The electoral fates of Union Minister Babul Supriyo and West Bengal Ministers Partha Chatterjee and Arup Biswas will be decided at this stage.

Supriyo will take on MLA Arup Biswas sitting in Tollygunj, known to be the heart of the Bengali film industry on the southern outskirts of Kolkata, while Partha Chatterjee, who is also the secretary-general of TMC, will take on film actor Srabanti BJP Chatterjee at Behala West Headquarters to return to Assembly for the fourth consecutive term.

Also in the fray on Saturday is TMC traitor Rajib Banerjee, a former minister in Mamata Banerjee’s cabinet, who will compete from Domjur in Howrah district for a BJP ballot. He, along with his renegade colleague Suvendu Adhikari, has been the focus of stabbing attacks by the supreme TMC who called them “gaddars” (traitors) and Mir Jafar and attacked them in almost every election meeting.

Rajib Banerjee, for his part, has said in campaign meetings that it had become impossible to stay at TMC due to its “corrupt practices” and the arrogance and anti-popular stance of its leaders. He claimed that he has joined the BJP to work for the people of the state.

BJP MPs Locket Chatterjee and Nisith Pramanik are competing from the Chuchura and Dinhata seats in the Hoogly and Cooch Behar districts, respectively. His presence in the state assembly electoral contest had led the supreme TMC to joke that the saffron party is presenting its members of parliament because it does not have suitable candidates.

The saffron party responded by saying that by appointing its deputies it was showing the importance it attached to the assembly elections in West Bengal.