New Delhi/Guwahati/Kolkata: Days after high decibel campaigning, voting for the second phase of Assembly elections in Assam and West Bengal will take place on Thursday. A total of 69 seats spread across both the states will be at stake.
The fate of five ministers, the Deputy Speaker and a few significant Opposition faces will be decided as 39 seats in Assam go to the polls in the second phase.
In all, 345 candidates, including 26 women, are in the fray in this phase, the polling for which will be held from 7 am to 6 pm amid heavy security and strict COVID-19 guidelines, officials said.
The ruling BJP is contesting 34 seats, while its allies Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and United People's Party Liberal (UPPL) are fighting in six and three seats, respectively.
The Grand Alliance's Congress is contesting in 28 seats, the AIUDF in seven and Bodoland Peoples' Front (BPF) in four. The newly-formed Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) is contesting in 19 seats.
There is a direct contest between the NDA and the Grand Alliance in 25 constituencies, while the rest are witnessing triangular fights.
Total 175 candidates are fighting the phase two elections from 15 seats in the three districts of Karimganj, Hailakandi and Cachar. Algapur has the highest number with 19 candidates.
The elections will be held amid tight security with 310 companies of forces being deployed for the second phase, an official said.
A total of 73,44,631 voters will be deciding the fate of 345 candidates. Of them, 37,34,537 are males and 36,09,959 females, while 135 are third gender voters.
Total 10,592 polling stations have been set up in 5,774 premises.
There are 556 polling stations where only women officials will be deployed, while there are 117 model polling stations.
Sanitisers, thermal scanners, soaps and handwashing facilities will be available at all polling stations, they said.
The second phase polling will also involve 26 general observers, 12 police observers, 16 expenditure observers and 807 micro-observers.
Meanwhile, in West Bengal, 75 lakh voters will decide the fate of 171 candidates in 30 seats as eyes are set on the high profile Nandigram constituency where TMC chief Mamata Banerjee is pitted against her protégé turned adversary Suvendu Adhikari of the BJP.
All 10,620 booths where polling will be held in this phase have been declared as sensitive by the Election Commission, which has deployed around 651 companies of Central forces to provide security, officials said.
Besides, the state police will also be deployed at strategic locations during the polling which will begin at 7 am, they said.
A total of 199 companies of Central Armed Police Force will be deployed in Purba Medinipur, 210 companies in Paschim Medinipur, 170 in South 24 Parganas and 72 in Bankura, the sources said.
with agency inputs