New Delhi : As voting began for the sixth phase of West Bengal assembly elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday urged the voters to exercise their franchise. "The people of West Bengal are voting to elect a new assembly. On the sixth phase today, urging those whose seats are polling to exercise their franchise," PM tweeted. The people of West Bengal are voting to elect a new assembly. On the sixth phase today, urging those whose seats are polling to exercise their franchise. — Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 22, 2021 Polling began on Thursday morning at 7 am for the sixth phase of the ongoing assembly elections in West Bengal and will conclude at 6 pm. As many as 306 candidates, including 27 women, are in the fray in this phase of the assembly elections where polling is being held in 43 constituencies in four districts. Voting for the sixth phase of #WestBengalPolls is yet to begin at booth number 134 - at Raiganj Coronation High School - in Uttar Dinajpur, due to some technical issues. pic.twitter.com/8WdX96IIPF — ANI (@ANI) April 22, 2021 Over 1.03 crore voters, including 50.65 lakh women and 256 of the third gender, will be deciding the fate of these candidates across 14,480 polling stations in the sixth phase. Among the 43 constituencies, nine are in Uttar Dinajpur, eight in Purba Bardhaman, nine in Nadia and 17 are in the North 24 Parganas district. BJP candidate from Raiganj, Uttar Dinajpur, Krishna Kalyani cast his vote at booth number 134. He says, "Voting began a little late. It's a festival of democracy & everyone is participating. You can see the queues, it shows that this time voting will be for change, development." pic.twitter.com/Hfh0QgcxcI — ANI (@ANI) April 22, 2021 TMC and BJP are contesting all 43 seats. Congress, the Left parties and the Indian Secular Front have made a coalition and are contesting under the banner of Samyukta Morcha. Out of the 43 seats in this round, Congress has got 12 in its share, CPI(M) got 23, All India Forward Bloc (AIFB) got four and CPI has got two seats. Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is also trying its luck and has fielded 37 candidates. Polling for phases 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 of the state elections took place on March 27, April 1, April 6, April 10, and April 17, respectively. Polling for the seventh and eighth phases will be held on April 26 and 29 respectively while the counting of votes will take place on May 2.
