Kolkata | The high-pitched campaign for the first phase of West Bengal assembly elections came to an end at 6 pm on Tuesday. SIR of electoral rolls and people's dietary habits had been the focal point of the wranglings between the two prominent rivals -- the BJP and the TMC -- which also made wide-ranging promises to woo voters.
Voting in 152 constituencies across north Bengal and several districts in the southern part of the state is slated for April 23. According to the Election Commission, over 3.60 crore electors are eligible to vote in this phase. Electors include around 1.84 crore male voters, 1.75 crore female voters and 465 third-gender voters.
A record 2,450 companies of Central paramilitary forces that comprise nearly 2.5 lakh personnel have been deployed by the Election Commission for the West Bengal Assembly polls.
The poll panel has stepped up security arrangements, identifying more than 8,000 polling stations as highly sensitive for the first phase.
The EC flagged a few districts like Malda, Murshidabad, Uttar Dinajpur, Cooch Behar, Birbhum and Burdwan as particularly sensitive, placing all constituencies in these regions under strict surveillance.
Central armed police forces have been deployed in strength, supported by surveillance teams and 2,193 quick response teams to respond swiftly to any incident.
The Trinamool Congress is seeking to come to power for the fourth straight term, while the BJP wants to unseat the Mamata Banerjee-led party in the state where the number of voters has reduced by around 91 lakh after the Special Intensive Review (SIR).
Key candidates in this phase include leader of the opposition Suvendu Adhikari (BJP, Nandigram), former Union minister Nisith Pramanik (BJP, Mathabhanga), state minister Udayan Guha (TMC, Dinhata), Goutam Deb (TMC, Siliguri), and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury (Congress, Baharampur).
Canvassing for the BJP candidates, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and several other leaders alleged that the state has witnessed political violence, lawlessness and widespread corruption as, they claimed, the ruling TMC encouraged infiltration for vote bank politics leading to demographic change.
The saffron party also promised, among others, to implement the Uniform Civil Code, stop infiltration, strengthen borders, generate jobs, provide pending DA to state government employees, and give more financial assistance to beneficiaries than what they are getting now.
The Trinamool Congress (TMC), on the other hand, accused the BJP of trying to manipulate the voter list through the SIR, targeting candidates and ruling party leaders using central agencies.
It also claimed that the BJP would ban the consumption of fish, meat and eggs if it wins the polls, a charge vehemently denied by the BJP.
The ruling party also pledged a pucca house to every family, piped drinking water for all, increased financial assistance to beneficiaries, support to landless farmers, and others.
Among other issues, the decades-old demand of the Gorkhas for Gorkhaland, tea garden workers' wages, infrastructure gaps in north Bengal and agrarian distress in Malda and Murshidabad have shaped the campaign narrative.
Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi also campaigned for party candidates. The first phase also comes amid heightened scrutiny of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, during which a significant number of names were deleted and later subjected to verification.
Political parties, especially the TMC, have raised concerns over the deletions, particularly in Muslim-majority Malda and Murshidabad, while the Commission has maintained that the exercise was part of routine updating to remove duplicate and ineligible entries.
The gerao of judicial officers engaged in the SIR exercise in Malda's Mothabari also became a major issue during the campaign. Several people protesting the deletion of names in the exercise had gheraoed the officers for several hours, leading to the EC engaging the NIA to probe the matter on the Supreme Court's directive.
Murshidabad has witnessed the highest number of deletions, with over 7.4 lakh names removed during the exercise. The presence of several high-profile candidates marks the contest.
In Nandigram, where Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari is taking on his former aide Prabitra Kar, who shifted to Trinamool Congress recently. Adhikari, who is also contesting from Bhabhanipur constituency against TMC chief Banerjee, had defeated the CM from Nandigram in the 2021 elections.
Suspended TMC MLA Humayun Kabir, who has come to limelight after promising to build a Babri Masjid like mosque in Murshidabad district, is also a contestant.
In Dinhata, TMC's Udayan Guha is seeking to retain the seat after winning a bypoll, having earlier lost narrowly in 2021 to BJP leader Nisith Pramanik. Pramanik, a prominent BJP face in north Bengal, has been fielded from Mathabhanga (SC).
The seat is witnessing a multi-cornered contest with candidates from the TMC, BJP, CPI(M) and the Congress. Senior TMC leader Goutam Deb, who has been elected twice from the Dabgram-Fulbari constituency, is contesting for the first time from the Siliguri Assembly seat.
The BJP-held Baharampur seat is also drawing attention, with senior Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury making a return to Assembly politics after over two decades.
Among the other star candidates contesting in the first phase of polling is former BJP Bengal president Dilip Ghosh against TMC’s Pradeep Sarkar in the Kharagpur Sadar seat in Paschim Medinipur district.
Other key seats in the first phase include Mekhliganj, Sitalkuchi,
Darjeeling, Raiganj, Islampur, Balurghat, English Bazar and Jangipur.
Kolkata | Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday claimed that goons enjoying Trinamool Congress patronage would have no place to hide after the West Bengal polls and urged the electorate to vote without fear since Central forces would be keeping a close watch on such miscreants.
A record 2,450 companies of Central paramilitary forces that comprise nearly 2.5 lakh personnel have been deployed by the Election Commission for the West Bengal Assembly polls.
Addressing his final poll rally in Purba Medinipur district's Chandipur, which borders Suvendu Adhikari's stronghold Nandigram, before the first phase of polling on April 23, Shah bid "ta ta, goodbye" to TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee.
"Her time at the helm of the state has come to an end," the former BJP chief said and exuded confidence that she would be replaced by a saffron dispensation post May 4, when the election results would be declared.
Urging people to vote without fear, he said, "No one can threaten our voters. The Election Commission has deployed central forces in sufficient numbers who are spread at every nook and corner of the state."
Flanked by BJP's Nandigram candidate Suvendu Adhikari on the dais, the Union Home minister claimed that "Mamata Banerjee's aspiration to see her nephew, Abhishek, as the state CM will never bear fruit".
"Bhaipo (nephew) will not be Bengal's future CM. He has already purchased his ticket to leave the state after May 4," Shah said.
He warned the "TMC's goons who tortured BJP workers" to find a place to hide. "After May 5, when results are declared, they will have no place to run," he said.
Addressing the electorate of this agrarian belt, where paddy and betel leaf cultivation are the mainstays, the Union home minister promised that the BJP will set up a research facility in Chandipur to study the medicinal values of betel leaf, once it comes to power in Bengal.
Shah also promised that infiltrators would be identified and deported to Bangladesh. Sealing of Bengal's border with Bangladesh would be done within 45 days of the BJP forming government in the state, he added.