Campaign ends for fourth phase of elections in Bengal

Kolkata: More than one crore voters in over eight Lok Sabha constituencies will exercise their franchise on April 29.

Canvassing reached a peak over the past couple of days including big rallies, road shows, street corner meetings and last minute door-to-door contact with voters in Berhampore, Ranaghat, Krishnanagar, Burdwan East, Burdwan-Durgapur, Asansol, Bolpur (SC) and Birbhum, before coming to an end at 6 pm.

Of these eight seats, Congress and BJP have one seat each. In 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Adhir Chowdhury and Babul Supriyo were elected from Berhampore and Asansol respectively. The remaining six seats had been won by the Trinamool Congress in the 2014 elections.

In Berhampore, the Trinamool has fielded Apurba Sarkar, a close aide of Adhir Chowdhury. In the past four years, the TMC has made inroads in Murshidabad which is believed to be a Congress stronghold. Suvendu Adhikari, the state Transport minister, is looking after Murshidabad district on behalf of the party. He has organised the party and in 2018 Panchayat elections, the Trinamool has got control over the Zilla Parishad.

In Krishnanagar seat, the Trinamool has fielded Mahua Moitra, the party's MLA from Karimpur.

In Ranaghat, the Trinamool Congress supremo replaced Tapas Mondol, party's candidate who was elected in 2014 with Rupali Biswas.

The latter is the widow of Satyajit Biswas, the party's MLA from Krishnagunj, who was murdered in February this year.

In Asansol, Trinamool MP from Bankura Moon Moon Sen is contesting in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Her rival is Babul Supriyo, the sitting BJP MP. In Burdwan East and Burdwan-Durgapur seats, the Trinamool has fielded two sittings MPs, Sunil Mondol and Mumtaz Sanghamita respectively.

Asit Mal is TMC's nominee in Bolpur (SC) seat. The former MP Anupam Hazra was expelled from the party and he is contesting from Jadavpur seat. Shatabdi Roy is contesting from Birbhum Lok Sabha seat with Trinamool's ticket.

Mamata Banerjee has campaigned in all the eight seats and took part in road shows which had attracted thousands of people.

Political experts said in the eight seats where election will be held on April 29, the Trinamool Congress is likely to gain the Asansol seat.

Trinamool workers are burying hatchets and are campaigning for Moon Moon Sen. Besides door-to-door campaigns, Sen has addressed meetings of the workers and visited the villages. Malay Ghatak, state Law minister, said party workers are leaving no stones unturned to ensure her victory.