Much like the previous phase, in phase six too the BJP has maximum candidates with criminal cases registered against them while Trinamool Congress (TMC) has the richest ones in West Bengal.
Six (63%) out of eight candidates of the BJP have criminal cases registered against them, while five are booked under criminal cases. The CPI-M has four of their candidates with criminal cases.
Of the 83 candidates, 20 have criminal cases against them as per their affidavit filed with the Commission.
Meanwhile, the TMC has maximum number of candidates who are crorepatis. Six out of eight of their candidates are crorepatis, with actor-politician Deb at the top with property worth Rs. 31 crores. Bharati Ghosh of BJP is in the second position with 18 crore of property according to data released by Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR).
Sixteen of the candidates are crorepatis. Polling will take place in a total of 15,428 booths in the penultimate phase. The booths are to be guarded by 770 companies of central armed forces, which is the highest as of now.
The tribal heartland of West Bengal, which was once a hot bed of Maoist activities, will go to polls in the sixth phase on Sunday.
Eight Lok Sabha constituencies Tamluk, Kanthi, Ghatal, Jhargram (ST), Midnapore, Purulia, Bankura and Bishnupur (SC), of which four were earlier affected by the activities of CPI (M) Maoist, will go to polls in the penultimate phase.
Lok Sabha seats like Medinipur and Bankura will witness high-profile contests. In Medinipur, BJP's Bengal president Dilip Ghosh will take on Rajya Sabha MP and six time-Congress MLA Manas Bhunia, who defected to the Trinamool in 2016 while in Bankura seat senior TMC leader and Minister Subrata Mukherjee is facing BJP vice-president Subhas Sarkar and CPI (M) heavyweight Amiya Patra.
In Jhargram, TMC's Birbaha Soren, a tribal school teacher, takes on the BJP's Kunar Hembram, an engineer and in Purulia the contest is between TMC’s Mrigank Mahato and BJP’s Jyotirmoy Mahato.
In the Purba Medinipur district the political clout of the Adhikari family will be tested with veteran politician Sisir Kumar Adhikari of the Trinamool seeking a third straight term from Kanthi. In the adjoining constituency, Tamluk, his son and MP Dibyendu Adhikari is up against former MP Lakshman Seth of the Congress.
