Kolkata: Trinamool Congress’ (TMC) Shatrughan Sinha, Mahua Moitra and Yusuf Pathan, Congress’ Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, BJP’s S S Ahluwalia and Dilip Ghosh will be among the candidates whose fates will be decided in the EVMs as eight Lok Sabha constituencies in Bengal will go to the polls in the fourth phase on Monday.
Spread over Murshidabad, Nadia, East Burdwan, West Burdwan and Birbhum districts, the problems flagged by voters in these constituencies vary from migrant labour, drinking water supply and drying up of industries, while the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) notification is a bone of contention between the TMC and BJP in some places.
Polling will be held in Baharampur, Krishnanagar, Ranaghat (SC), Burdwan East (SC), Burdwan-Durgapur, Asansol, Bolpur (SC) and Birbhum in West Bengal in the fourth round of the Lok Sabha polls.Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home minister Amit Shah, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee held several public meetings and roadshows in support of their party candidates in these seats.
A total of 1,45,30,017 voters, including 71,45,379 women and 282 third-gender electors, are eligible to exercise their franchise in 15,507 polling stations for the eight constituencies, an official said.
The EC has identified 3,647 polling stations as “critical” across the eight constituencies, where a total of 75 candidates are contesting, the official said.
A total of 152 companies of Central Forces would be deployed in East Burdwan district, followed by Birbhum (131), Asansol Durgapur Police Commissionerate (88), Krishnanagar Police District (81), Murshidabad Police District (73) and Ranaghat Police District (54), he said.
Several star candidates are contesting in these eight constituencies which go to polls on Monday in the fourth phase.
Film star-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha is seeking re-election from Asansol, pitted against BJP’s veteran leader S S Ahluwalia.In Krishnanagar, the TMC has put up its outspoken leader Mahua Moitra, who was expelled from the 17th Lok Sabha last December, against BJP’s Amrita Roy, a member of the Krishnanagar royal family.
Former Bengali cine celebrity Satabdi Roy is seeking a fourth term from Birbhum seat, which is now shorn of its maverick TMC leader Anubrata Mondal, lodged in Tihar jail in connection with an alleged cattle smuggling case.