Polling begins for seventh phase of West Bengal assembly elections
Polling began at 7 am on Mondayfor 34 seats in the seventh phase of the assembly elections inWest Bengal, amid tight security and a rampaging second waveof COVID-19.
Long queues were seen outside most polling boothswhere voting is underway adhering to Covid protocols.
Over 86 lakh voters will decide the political fate of284 candidates in this phase.
Security measures have been heightened in view of theviolence in the previous phases, particularly the death offive people in Cooch Behar in the fourth round of polling onApril 10, an Election Commission official said.
The poll panel has deployed at least 796 companies ofcentral forces in the seventh phase to ensure free and fairvoting, he said.
It has also put in place measures to ensure strictadherence to health protocols during the election process,including wearing face masks and maintaining socialdistancing.
The state registered its highest single-day spike of15,889 COVID-19 cases on Sunday, while 57 more peoplesuccumbed to the virus.
Voting is being held at 12,068 polling stations spreadover nine assembly constituencies each in Murshidabad andPaschim Bardhaman districts, six each in Dakshin Dinajpur andMalda and four in Kolkata, including Chief Minister MamataBanerjees home turf Bhabanipur.
Polling will continue till 6.30 pm.
Elections to two assembly constituecies – Samserganjand Jangipur in Murshidabad district – have been adjournedfollowing the death of two coronavirus-positive candidates.
The EC has fixed May 16 as the date for polling inthese two seats.
Six rounds of the eight-phased assembly elections inthe state have already taken place, with the last phasescheduled for Thursday.
Votes will be counted on Sunday.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Federal staff and is auto-published from a syndicated feed.)