Apr 28, 2021, 11:04 IST
By Uday Basu
The eighth and last phase of polling in West Bengal across four districts, including parts of Kolkata, will be held on April 29 in the unusual backdrop of the Election Commission (EC) being literally in the dock for its handling of the entire poll process in the midst of the ravaging COVID-19 second wave. The ruling Trinamool Congress, which has been facing the toughest challenge ever from a resurgent BJP, has found a new stick to beat the EC with. It has clutched the issue of poor handling of the pandemic by the Centre and the crumbling health infrastructure to corner the BJP in the last phase when the fate of 35 seats - six in Malda, 11 each in Murshidabad and Birbhum and seven in Kolkata North - will be decided.
[BenarNews]
West Bengal is set to vote Thursday in the last phase of state elections, amid skyrocketing coronavirus infections across India that many have blamed on mismanagement by the Bharatiya Janata Party-led central government.
West Bengal is one of two states where the BJP has been shut out for decades, but which the Hindu nationalist party hopes to control after a hard-fought campaign.
If the state legislature election here was crucial for the BJP before, it’s more so now because the party needs a win to affirm that the Indian public is still on its side, political analyst Subhamoy Maitra said.
Amidst Covid-19 fire, Hindu-Muslim polarisation is Bengal s biggest poll factor
Even amidst the pandemic, Hindu-Muslim polarisation is, by far, the biggest factor in the ongoing Bengal Assembly election.
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UPDATED: April 27, 2021 06:56 IST
Even amidst the pandemic, Hindu-Muslim polarisation is, by far, the biggest factor in the ongoing Bengal Assembly election. (India Today)
In Asansol, 18-year-old Rakesh Prasad will be voting for the first time this election. “Corona ke cases bohot badh gaye hai (corona cases have increased a lot),” he says. But will the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic determine his vote? Not really. “We have to unite the Hindus - and that is why I will vote for the BJP,” says the young student.
Updated 3 hours ago A large crowd gathered for a roadshow by Union Home Minister Amit Shah in West Bengal on March 30. | BJP via Twitter.
The Election Commission on Tuesday banned all victory processions by political parties on May 2, when the results of Assembly elections will be announced.
The results for Assembly elections in the four states of West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam and Kerala and the Union Territory of Puducherry will be out on May 2. West Bengal will vote for the last of its eight rounds of polling on April 29.
“Not more than two persons shall be allowed to accompany the winning candidate or his/her authorized representative [to] receive the certificate of election from the Returning Officer concerned,” the poll panel added.