Campaigning Ends for 7th Phase of Polling in West Bengal

Curtains came down yesterday over the seventh phase campaigning for 34 assembly seats in West Bengal, scheduled to go to the poll on April 26. Due to the Covid surge, the public campaigning ended 72 hours prior to the polling day. A total of 86,78,221 eligible voters including 229 voters from the third gender will exercise their franchise in Malda(Part I), Kolkata Dakshin, Murshidabad(Part 1), Paschim Bardhaman(Part 1) and Dakshin Dinajpur districts. The polling will be held in 12,068 polling stations between 7.00am to 6.30 pm.

News reports that nine Assembly constituencies each in Murshidabad and



Paschim Bardhaman districts, six each in Dakshin Dinajpur and Malda districts, four in Kolkata Dakshin are part of the seventh phase election. Due to the death of candidates each in Samserganj and Jangipur, the Election Commission has rescheduled the election here on May 16. The focus in this phase of polling will be on seats in the southern part of Kolkata, mainly Bhabanipore where the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had won in two previous elections. Since she shifted to Nandigram in this election, the power minister in her cabinet Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay is up against actor Rudranil Ghosh of the BJP in this seat.