North, central Kolkata to vote on Thursday

Kolkata: More than 13.7 million voters will decide the fate of 418 candidates across 62 constituencies spread across the districts of Murshidabad, Nadia, Burdwan and north and central Kolkata on Thursday.

This is the first time the metropolis is not voting in unison, as it has been split into various phases, with south Kolkata voting on April 30.

The list of candidates includes 34 women.

A total of 13,742,000 voters, including 6,579,218 women, will exercise their franchise in 16,461 polling stations, in this phase of polling, said an official of the Election Commission (EC).

The EC is under pressure as all the last three-phases have been marked with controversy and violence, including the opposition accusing the state chief election officer of being partial towards the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC).

“There have been some complaints of booth jamming, voter intimidation and strong arm tactics by some parties. We are looking into the complains,” an official of the EC said.

The EC has been critical of chief minister Mamata Banerjee and asked her to personally respond to the “show-cause notice” she was issued for allegedly violating the code of conduct.

Banerjee has also been critical of the EC alleging that the notice and transfers have been made at the behest of BJP leaders.

The BJP, on its part, has tried to make it an issue and Prime Minister Narendra Modi attacked Banarjee during a rally saying she was “fighting” with the EC and questioned why the state chief secretary replied to a showcause issued to her by it.

“She [Banerjee] has no right to be in power for even a minute. She is using government machinery for fighting the elections,” Modi said at a public meeting here in the state.

The EC has also transferred several of administrative and police officers including Kolkata police commissioner Rajeev Kumar, for being biased towards the ruling party.

TMC, Left-Congress party alliance and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have put up a fight in all the seats. Key contestants in this phase include state ministers Shashi Panja and Sadhan Pande, BJP national secretary Rahul Sinha, five-time Congress legislator Md Sohrab, CPM legislator Anisur Rahman and retired IPS officer Nazrul Islam.

Anubrata Mondal, Birbhum Birbhum district president of TMC known to be close to Banerjee, has been under the EC’s glare ever since the election began earlier this month.

Already under 24/7 surveillance by a videographer, local magistrate and a contingent of 10 central force personnel, Mondal had ventured out of his constituency despite specific orders from the EC. As a result an FIR was filed against him.

BJP has been banking on the charisma of its national leaders like Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and HRD Minister Smriti Irani who held election meetings during this phase.

However, the biggest talking point has been the alliance of the CPM and the Congress party that are holding massive joint rallies in the city in their bid to oust the TMC.

“This is the beauty of politics, it can bring arch rivals together just to be in power,”said Subir Dutta, a octogenarian who has voted in all assembly polls since independence.

Many CPM old timers though are unhappy, as they believe it will hurt the party in the future. “To secure power now, they have diluted the ethos of the party by tie up with a party who is poles apart from our philosophy,”said Tushar De, a resident.

Congress workers though are keen on this alliance and has been trying to dissuade the past from the present. “We had many clashes with the CPM. I was severely injured, but now the alliance is the need of the hour or TMC will destroy everything,”said Pritam Das, a Congress worker.

However, there is another factor that is keeping the political parties worried specially in Kolkata as the unprecedented heatwave in the month of April may see less voter turnout. The weatherman has forecast 41 degrees Celsius on polling day.

“It is very hot, perhaps I had never experienced such heat in the month of April in my lifetime. But still I will vote as it is my duty,” said Dutta.

EC has also made special provision considering the weather and all polling stations will have drinking water, additional fans and sitting area specially for the elderly. Also special provision for the specially abled people have been made with wheel chairs and Braille voting machines.