Elections for West Bengal’s 42 Lok Sabha seats will be conducted in seven phases from beginning on April 19 and concluding on June 1, according to the election schedule announced by the Election Commission of India on March 16. The constituencies of north Bengal will go to polls in the first phases, after which polling will be conducted across the central, south-west and then south regions of the State respectively.
The Trinamool Congress leadership said that the party’s suggestion of holding polls across the State was ignored by the ECI.
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State Minister and Trinamool Congress leader Chandrima Bhattacharya said that the party sought a single phase elections because voter participation drops in multiple phase elections.
Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP Sukhendu Sekhar Ray claimed that this was a disregard for the country’s federal structure . “State government’s views were not taken into account. This is a disregard for the federal structure. We fail to understand the reasons for holding such a long election. This is quite surprising,” Mr. Ray said.
The BJP leadership in West Bengal welcomed the seven-phase polls in State citing the State’s history of political violence.
The State has witnessed elections in multiple phases in the past, including eight-phase Assembly polls in 2021. After the announcement the seven-phase Lok Sabha polls in the State, Opposition parties in the State started demanding the deployment of central armed police forces at the earliest.
State Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury demanded that central armed police forces should be deployed in the State days ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.
Governor CV Ananda Bose’s mission
About 7.60 crore voters in West Bengal will be eligible to exercise their franchise to elect 42 MPs from the State. Hours before the ECI announced the schedule of Lok Sabha polls, West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose said that he would hit the streets to ensure there was no violence in the State during the polls.
“I will be in the field right from day one of the election. My two priorities will be to see that no violence and corruption takes place during the election. I will be on the road at 6 am before others wake up,” the Governor said.
Reacting to the comments of the Governor, Trinamool Congress leader Kunal Ghosh said that Mr. Bose should not be on the streets during elections but he should ensure that central forces do not work as cadres of the BJP.
Phase wise- Constituency details
Phase 1: April 19- Cooch Behar, Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar
Phase 2: April 26- Darjeeling, Raiganj, Balurghat
Phase 3: May 7- Malda, Murshidabad, Jangipur
Phase 4: May 13-Bardhaman Purba, Berhampore, Bardhaman Durgapur, Ranaghat, Bolpur
Phase 5: May 20- Howrah, Ulluberia, Hooghly, Sreerampur, Barrackpore, Bongaon
Phase 6: May 25- Kanthi, Tamluk, Ghatal, Purulia, Bankura, Bishnupur, Medinipur and Jhargram
Phase 7: June 1- Kolkata Uttar and Kolkata Dakshin, Diamond Harbour, Jadavpur, Dum Dum, Barasat, Bashirhat, Joynagar and Mathurapur
