Voting for the third phase of assembly elections began in West Bengal this morning in 62 seats, including seven in Kolkata. One person was killed in clashes in Murshidabad district.
Here are
the 10 latest developments in this story:
One lakh security
personnel have been put in into service for the crucial phase in Murshidabad,
Burdwan and Nadia districts, along with Kolkata where the ruling Trinamool
Congress holds six of the seven seats up for vote.
Voting began at 7 am at
over 16,000 polling stations where over 1.37 crore voters are eligible to vote.
Voting will go on till 6 pm.
A polling agent of
the Communist Party of India-Marxist was shot dead in Murshidabad's Domkol. The
Election Commission has identified 3,401 hamlets in the phase as vulnerable
where extra security and special measures to encourage were taken.
Trinamool, the
Left-Congress alliance and BJP have fielded candidates in all the seats. The
Chowringhee seat is being contested by former Trinamool lawmaker Soumen Mitra,
one of the architects of the Left-Congress combine.
The Vivekananda
flyover collapse in the Kolkata, the Narada sting operation and Saradha chit
fund scam have put the ruling Trinamool Congress in a tight spot.
A notice to
West Bengal Chief Minister West Bengal Mamata Banerjee and widely-criticised
remarks by Trinamool leader Rezzakh Mollah against
BJP candidate Roopa Ganguly have also put the ruling party under pressure.
The Congress is
pinning its hopes on Murshidabad district, which has been the party's
traditional stronghold.
Key candidates up
for vote today include Trinamool Congress ministers Shashi Panja and Sadhan
Pande, BJP national secretary Rahul Sinha, five-time Congress legislator Md
Sohrab, CPI-M legislator Anisur Rahman and retired police officer Nazrul Islam.
With several
districts reeling under a heat wave, and a 39 degree Celsius temperature
forecast for Kolkata, many voters were ready to exercise their franchise early
in the morning.
Polling in West
Bengal, which is holding a seven-phase election, will be
held in three more phases ending on May 5. Votes will be counted on May 19.
Source: NDTV
Photo by: ANI
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