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- Published: March 31, 2021 21:40
New Delhi: Polling for 2nd phase of Assembly elections is set to get underway tomorrow morning in Assam and West Bengal at 7 AM tomorrow. In Assam, a couple of seats are believed to have fierce fight, while in Bengal, Nandigram is set to witness all the hoopla.
Assam polls:
Polling for the second and penultimate phase of Assam assembly polls will begin at 7 am on Thursday to decide the fate of 345 candidates in 39 constituencies across 13 districts.
The high-octane poll campaign for the second phase ended on Tuesday with all the players including the ruling NDA, Congress-led Mahajath making hard efforts to woo voters. The polling will begin at 7 am. The main contest is seen to be between the alliances led by BJP and Congress.
Congress has stitched a broad alliance that includes All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), Communist Party of India, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation, the Anchalik Gana Marcha (AGM) and the Bodoland Peoples’ Front (BPF).
Jailed activist Akhil Gogoi’s Raijor Dal has stitched an alliance with Assam Jatiya Parishad.
The election in the second phase includes 15 assembly seats in the Barak Valley. In the 2016 polls, BJP had bagged eight seats – six from Cachar district and two from bordering Karimganj district, which shares a boundary with Bangladesh.
Over 73.44 lakh voters are eligible to cast their votes in the second phase of the election. Of them, 37,34,537 are male voters and 36,09,959 are female voters, while 135 are third gender voters.
Central paramilitary forces deployed for security
A total of 310 Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) companies and 90 companies of Assam state police have been deployed for the second phase of polling.
The BJP is banking on the performance of the Sarbanand Sonowal government in the state in the past five years, the initiatives of the central government and the appeal of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Apart from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, senior BJP leaders including union ministers Amit Shah, Smriti Irani, Jitendra Singh, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan were among those who campaigned in the state. Senior state BJP leader Himanta Biswa Sarma also extensively campaigned.
The BJP has been targeting Congress over its alliance with AIUDF and has been raising the issue of infiltration. Party leaders have said that Congress has allied with those who have “favoured infiltration”.
The party has also promised to free the state of the problem of recurrent floods.
“We want to make Assam free from floods. Satellite mapping will be done, reservoirs will be created. We want to make every village in the State ‘aatmanirbhar’,” Nadda said at a public meeting in Dharmapur on Tuesday.
The BJP formed its first party-led government in Assam after the 2016 elections. BJP and its allies won 86 out of 126 seats and ousting the Tarun Gogoi-led Congress government which ruled the state for 15 years.
Polling for the last phase will be held on April 6 and counting of votes will take place on May 2. The first phase took place on March 27 and recorded a voter turnout of nearly 77 per cent.
Bengal polls:
Polling for the second phase of West Bengal elections 2021 on 30 assembly constituencies will take place on Thursday (April 1). Earlier, polling on 30 seats in the first phase of Bengal polls was held on Saturday (March 27). Bengal assembly elections 2021 are taking place in 8 phases.
All eyes are on Nandigram to witness tough battle between Mamata Banerjee and her protégé had announced her candidature from there. Nandigram is considered to be a bastion of Trinamool and the Adhikari family, which has influence in nearby over two dozen seats. Banerjee has been camping at Nandigram for the last three days and will remain in the constituency till the voting day.
The Election Commission said that it has completed all preparations for voting, and that its all-polling parties will reach polling stations by this evening.
“Not even difficult terrain, heavy rain and blocked roads can stop our dedicated officials, who are involved in election duties…for Phase II Polls tomorrow,” the EC said as its poll parties headed polling booths through difficult terrains on way in Assam and West Bengal.