The second and final phase of the West Bengal Assembly elections will be held on Wednesday, April 29, for 142 seats across seven districts. This includes the high-profile Bhabanipur seat in Kolkata, where Trinamool Congress leader and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is contesting. Her main challenger is Bharatiya Janata Party leader Suvendu Adhikari.
With this phase, the polling process for Assembly elections in five states will be completed. Voting was held on April 9 in Assam, Kerala, and Puducherry. Polling for all seats in Tamil Nadu and 152 seats across 16 districts of West Bengal took place on April 23. Counting of votes in all five states is scheduled for May 4.
The constituencies going to polls in West Bengal on Wednesday include 17 seats in Nadia district, 33 in North 24 Parganas, 31 in South 24 Parganas, 11 in Kolkata, 16 in Howrah, 18 in Hooghly, and 16 in East Bardhaman district.
The India Meteorological Department has issued a warning of thunderstorms and rain in most of these districts on Wednesday, which may affect voter turnout and polling arrangements.
The West Bengal Assembly elections were announced on March 15, and since then, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has carried out 44 raids and 68 search operations in connection with various cases.
One of the most significant issues in this election has been the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the voter list. As part of this process, the names of more than 60 lakh voters were removed. However, following tribunal decisions ahead of the second phase of polling, 1,468 voters have been added back to the list.
The Election Commission stated that voters whose appeals were resolved by the Appellate Tribunal by April 27 have been included in the supplementary electoral roll and will be eligible to vote in the second phase. Earlier, before the first phase of polling held on April 23, only 139 voters whose names were approved by the Tribunal were restored to the voter list.
The first phase of voting in the state remained largely peaceful. However, with the second phase approaching, large-scale preventive action has been taken to avoid any disturbances. The Election Commission said on Tuesday evening that 2,873 people have been detained across the state in the last 60 hours, including 809 detained on Monday night alone. The crackdown continued on Tuesday as well. Since Sunday night, reports of sporadic violence have emerged from several polling districts.
It is believed that the Election Commission may empower central security personnel to take action even beyond the 100-metre radius of polling stations to ensure stricter law and order. Additional CCTV cameras are also being installed on roads leading to polling booths, while a larger number of Quick Response Teams (QRTs) are being deployed to prevent any untoward incidents.
Meanwhile, a petition was filed in the Calcutta High Court on Tuesday against the Election Commission, alleging violation of the court’s earlier order regarding action against alleged troublemakers.
On April 22, the High Court had stayed an order issued by the Election Commission’s police observer, which had directed action against certain citizens after labeling them as troublemakers. In a petition submitted before the division bench headed by Chief Justice Sujay Pal, Trinamool Congress MP and senior advocate Kalyan Banerjee alleged that the Election Commission had prepared a fresh list of 350 individuals and action was being initiated against them despite the court’s stay order.
A separate controversy has also erupted around police observer Ajaypal Sharma. Ajaypal, an IPS officer from Uttar Pradesh who is widely known as an “encounter specialist,” visited the residence of Trinamool Congress candidate Jahangir Khan in the Falta constituency on Monday and reportedly issued a stern warning to his close associates. His tone and conduct have drawn sharp criticism. Jahangir has alleged that police observers are intimidating ordinary voters and creating an atmosphere of fear. On Tuesday, as Ajaypal’s convoy passed through the area, Jahangir and his supporters raised slogans of “Jai Bangla!”