Phase 4: About 8 Parliamentary seats in state to go for polls today

Kolkata: As many as 75 candidates, including 16 women, are in the fray for the fourth phase polls in Bengal on Monday when eight Parliamentary constituencies (PCs) — Berhampore, Ranaghat, Burdwan-Durgapur, Bolpur, Krishnanagar, Burdwan East, Asansol and Birbhum — are going for polls.

The Election Commission is deploying 596 companies of Central Forces during the fourth phase. Out of these, 579 companies are designated for overseeing 15,507 booths while the remaining 17 companies will be deployed for supervising strong rooms and maintaining law and order in various districts.

Among the eight PCs which are going for polls, five were won by Trinamool Congress (TMC) in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Ranaghat and Burdwan- Durgapur were wrested by BJP while the Berhampore seat was bagged by the Congress.

Over 1.45 crore voters, including over 73.84 lakh male and 71.45 lakh female, will exercise their franchise in the fourth phase.

The first time electors, over 3.23 lakh, will be a deciding factor in this phase of polls. The total number of 85 plus electors in this phase is 70,647. A total of 27,053 voters availed of home voting facilities and have already cast their votes.

Out of 15,507 polling booths, 791 will be manned by female polling personnel and five by persons with disabilities (PWD).

There will be 57 model polling stations during this phase. In the fourth phase of elections, 3,647 out of 15,507 polling stations that accounts for nearly 21 per cent, has been labelled ‘sensitive’. This is much less than the number of sensitive booths in the third phase where 2,830 out of 7,360 polling stations were marked ‘sensitive’ by the poll panel.

With Birbhum and Murshidabad having a history of electoral violence, the commission will deploy 130 companies of Central Forces in Birbhum and an additional 73 companies for the Berhampur constituency in Murshidabad. Furthermore, 152 companies have been assigned to Burdwan East, followed by 88 companies for the Asansol-Durgapur Police Commissionerate. There will be 81 companies for Krishnanagar and 54 companies for the Ranaghat parliamentary constituencies in Nadia.

Webcasting facilities will be available in all the polling booths.

There will be 68 Quick Response Teams (QRT) evenly distributed in all the constituencies.

In Asansol-Durgapur there will be 16 QRT teams followed by 15 in Murshidabad, 13 each in Birbhum and Burdwan East, 6 in Krishnanagar and 5 in Ranaghat. The Central Forces will also be supported by a state force of nearly 30,009 personnel.