Kolkata: The fifth-phase of the West Bengal assembly elections will be held on Saturday, where the fate of 349 candidates in 53 constituencies, spread across the three districts of South 24 Parganas, Kolkata and Hooghly will be decided by 120 million voters including that of chief minister Mamata Banerjee and several of her cabinet ministers and top leaders of the opposition.
According to a report released by the West Bengal Election Watch, 67 candidates have criminal cases pending against them while 43 are multimillionaires. 52 of the 67 candidates with criminal cases face serious charges including that of murder and crimes against women. The ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) with 17 nominees leads the list of candidates with criminal charges, followed by the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM) with 14. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has fielded 10 such candidates while the Congress has fielded seven.
Khalid Ebadullah of the Congress party contesting from Magrahat West in South 24 Parganas is the wealthiest candidate with assets in excess of Rs190 million. On the other side, Indian Union Muslim League nominee WH Khan contesting from Ballygunge constituency in the city and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha candidate Kashinath Murmu from Saptagram in Hooghly have declared zero assets.
BJP and TMC are contesting from all 53 constituencies; while CPM is contesting from 31 constituencies and their alliance partner Congress Party from 14. The largest constituencies are: Chunchurah (electorate-wise, with 2, 94,206 voters) and Kultai (area-wise). The smallest constituency is Kulpi with 194,868 voters.
Bhawanipur constituency in south-Kolkata is the most prestigious of all the constituencies, seeing the largest number of candidates, including that of the chief minister, former Union Minister Deepa Dasmunshi who is contesting as a Congress party candidate, while freedom fighter Subhash Chandra Bose’s grand nephew Chandra Kumar Bose is fielded by BJP from the seat. Apart from them, BSP, SUCI (C) and six independents are also in the fray.
The constituency which has 202,655 voters is home to a sizeable number of Gujaratis, Sikhs, Biharis, Marwaris and other communities living alongside Bengalis.
“People are fed up with the corruption and lawlessness of TMC. People want peace and democracy to be established in Bengal and it will start from the Bhabanipur constituency,” Dasmunshi, said. Other key constituencies include Kolkata port trust, Jadavpur, Tollygangue and Chowrangee.
The Election Commission of India (EC) which had been credited for a peaceful election in the fourth-phase on April 25, is leaving no stone unturned in ensuring that it lives up to its promise of holding a free and fair election.
Apart from transferring officers found to be biased against political parties, EC is deploying unprecedented amount of central and state police force to ensure that the polling is conducted peacefully. The city of Kolkata has been turned into a fortress with cars and even public vehicles been repeatedly checked with outsides being questioned of there whereabouts.
EC has also ordered that all advertisements appearing in print media on or before the day of polling — April 29, 30 — will have to be cleared in advance by the Media Certification and Monitoring Committee at the state/district level.
“Instances of advertisements of offending and misleading nature have been brought to the commission’s notice in the past, published in print media. Such advertisements vitiate the election,” the EC wrote in a letter to the chief electoral officer of West Bengal. Advertising in electronic media 24 hours before the polling is already banned.
