Bengal polls: Crucial fifth phase to witness key contests

Dibyendu Sarkar, Additional Chief Electoral Officer said the chief secretary and health secretary have been instructed to ensure that no outsiders except the family members of Madan Mitra are be allowed to see him on Saturday at SSKM hospital where he is receiving treatment. He will also not be allowed to use a cell phone. The CPI(M) and Congress leaders had met the CEO on Thursday and alleged that Trinamool Congress had assigned him to conduct elections in Bhowanipore Assembly seat from where Mamata Banerjee is contesting. On the basis of such baseless complaints the steps against Mitra have been taken.

The SDPO of Toofangunj and IC of Setai have been transferred on charges of showing favour to the ruling party. The full Bench of Election Commission of India on Friday held a video conference to discuss the arrangements made for the sixth phase of the poll scheduled to be held on May 5.

Apart from Mamata Banerjee, 10 of her Cabinet ministers, Subrata Mukherjee, Partha Chatterjee, Javed Khan, Manish Gupta, Firhad Hakim, Aroop Biswas, Manturam Pakhira, Rabindranath Bhattacharya, Becharam Manna and Giyasuddin Mollah will contest in the elections on Saturday. Mayor Sovan Chatterjee, Speaker of West Bengal Assembly Biman Banerjee and deputy speaker Sonali Guha are also in the fray. CPI(M) heavyweights Sujan Chakraborty and Kanti Ganguly will also be contesting on Saturday. The election will be held in four seats in South Kolkata, 31 seats in South 24 Parganas and 18 seats in Hooghly. The areas where polling will be held are considered Trinamool strongholds. The polling will start at 7am and will continue till 6 pm. Three hundred and forty candidates are fighting in the fifth phase of the poll.

To ensure free and fair election, 680 companies of Central Forces have been deployed along with 26,000 police personnel from the state and the city police force. There are 14,642 booths of which 1,075 are model polling stations. There will be 390 polling booths which will be manned exclusively by women. Around 16,838 EVMs will be used to conduct Saturday’s vote.

The Election Commission has identified vulnerable areas where security arrangements have been intensified. In Kolkata 113 companies of Central Forces will be deployed and another 5 companies will be kept to guard the strong rooms. Security surrounding the centres where the EVMs would be kept have also been intensified. The Central Force personnel on Thursday conducted route march to earn the confidence of voters. Special emphasis has been given on the riverine front to ensure that outsiders do not sneak into the three districts where election will be held. There will be CCTVs, digitised cameras and quick response teams to conduct fair election.

Political experts said that Saturday’s election will be very crucial from Trinamool’s point of view. Of the 56 seats, TMC is eyeing anything between 48 to 50 seats. The Trinamool Congress chief, Mamata Banerjee had visited all the constituencies and response of people despite the canards spread by the Opposition and a section of media and vernacular television channels, was overwhelming. There is absolutely no reason why TMC should suffer any setbacks in these areas.

CPI(M) has also geared up for Saturday’s poll. Sujan Chakraborty, the party’s South 24 Parganas district president is pitted against Manish Gupta in Jadavpur. Kanti Ganguly is fighting against the sitting MLA Debasree Roy. 

Rezzak Molla, former CPI(M) leader who has recently joined TMC will be contesting from the Bhangar seat.