All arrangements in place, says Quraishi

As the much-awaited West Bengal Legislative Assembly poll is all set to begin with the first phase scheduled for Monday covering 54 of the 294 constituencies, Chief Election Commissioner S.Y. Quraishi expressed satisfaction with the arrangements.

Talking to The Hindu here on Saturday he said the Commission felt that the use of “money power” to lure voters in West Bengal was much less, but it anticipated violent clashes during the polls and hence deployed more paramilitary forces, along with the State police. Representatives of two major political parties who met the Commission assured it that they would cooperate in ensuring a peaceful polling.

“All efforts have been taken by the Commission to ensure a free and fair poll, besides a level playing field for the contestants,” Mr. Quraishi said.

The poll will be held in six North Bengal districts — Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, Coochbehar, North Dinjapur, South Dinajpur and Malda on Monday. Altogether 364 candidates, including 10 Ministers of the Left Front government, are in the fray. A total of 97.42 lakh electorate are eligible to exercise their franchise through 12,133 polling stations.

Though the Commission had given voting rights to overseas Indians, only one person, Sujit Dutta, working in Oman, registered his name in the voters list for NRIs before the cut-off date for registration. He is eligible to vote in the Behala West constituency.

The polls, which will go on till May 10 in six phases, has generated a lot of heat as well as expectations throughout the country as Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee has vowed to replace the ruling Left Front government, which has been reining for 34 years.