Future of Mamata Banerjee and Suvendu Adhikari Seals Tomorrow

West Bengal Assembly Election Phase 2 voting tomorrow: The second phase of Assembly elections in West Bengal will be held tomorrow, April 1, 2021. A total of 30 constituencies will go for voting in this phase, out of which nine seats are in the East Medinipur district. Among these, Nandigram is one of the key constituencies as the chief minister of the State is in the fray. The high-stakes second phase of the Assembly elections that will witness an intense contest between Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her former ministerial colleague Suvendu Adhikari here.

The total number of polling booths in Nandigram is 355. Out of which 278 are main and 77 are auxiliary polling stations. Webcasting facility will be available in 278 booths. Total number of voters – 2,57,156. Male voters 1,33,258 and female voters 1,23,898. All the booths where polling will be held in the second phase have been declared as “sensitive” by the EC. Only 2,000 central forces officials will be deployed for Nandigram. And 22 quick response teams will also be there to stop any chaos. The Sub-Divisional Magistrate of Haldia in Purba Medinipur district, Avneet Punia, on Tuesday said in accordance with specific directions of the Election Commission and in the likelihood of violence, breach of peace and unwarranted incidents, Section 144 of the CrPC was imposed from 6:30 pm on March 30 till April 2.

Apart from Nandigram other important constituencies that are going to polls include Tamluk, Panskura Purba, Panskura Purba, Moyna, Nandakumar, Mahisadal, Chandipur, Haldia. In West Medinipur, constituencies going to polls are Kharagpur Sadar, Narayangarh, Sabang, Pingla, Debra, Daspur, Ghatal, Chandrakona and Keshpur. The important of this phase of election is clear from the activities of the election commission. Just 24 hours before the vote Circle Inspector, Mahishadal, Bichitra Bikas Roy, has been replaced by Inspector, Jalpaiguri Circuit Bench, Sirshendu Das. SDPO, Haldia, Barun Baidya has been replaced by Uttam Mitra. Ashoke Dinda, former cricketer and BJP’s candidate from Moyna was allegedly attacked and his vehicle was vandalised when he was returning from a roadshow ahead of phase 2 of the West Bengal Assembly election on April 1. Voting will also take place in Bankura, Barjora, Onda, Bishnupur, Katulpur, Indus, Sonamukhi, Taldangra.

Meanwhile, another important district in the fray for the second phase is South 24 Parganas. The district contains 31 Assembly constituencies in total and is known as a TMC stronghold. The TMC managed to win 29 of 31 seats in the South 24 Parganas. But BJP has also left no stones unturned during the election campaign in these areas. The promises that BJP made during the election campaign are also endless, from gathering people who were angry on cyclone amphan relief to making Gangasagar an international fair. Constituencies that go to poll in South 24 parganas are Gosaba, Patharpratima, Kakdwip and Sagar.

Will hot weather effect the voter turnout in the constituencies?

Several parts of West Bengal have been reeling under heatwave conditions. There is no improvement likely in the situation during the coming days. Conditions will remain hot and humid. But many believe that public will queue in the front of the polling stations from the morning overcoming all obstacles to elect their representatives. West Bengal reported 84.3 per cent voter turnout in the first phase of polling on March 27.