West Bengal elections 2021: Sec 144 imposed in all 31 seats going to polls in phase 3 today

West Bengal will go to polls on Tuesday (April 6) in its third phase of Assembly elections 2021. The counting of votes will take place on May 2.

Constituencies 

The voting in phase three will he held in 31 constituencies across three districts- eight in Hooghly, seven in Howrah and 16 in South 24 Parganas. Out of the 205 candidates who are contesting, 192 candidates are men while only 13 are women. It means only 6 per cent of the candidates are female.

There are 205 candidates in the fray in this round of polling, with Diamond Harbour having the maximum number of candidates at 11.

A total of 78,52,425 electors will take part in the third phase of the polls. Of these, 2,30,055 people will be voting for the first time. A total of 1,26,148 voters fall in the age group of above 80 years. 

The Kulpi constituency has the lowest electorate count with 2,20,600 while Jagatballavpur has the highest number of electorates at 2,88,099.Out of the total number of electorates, 39,93,280 are men, 38,58,902 are women and 243 are of other genders.

Political Parties 

Though these seats are strong TMC bastions, an air of anti-incumbency still can be felt here. South 24 Parganas is known as a TMC stronghold. One of the most important factors in the South 24 Parganas is the Muslim population, which both parties will seek to draw in their favour, who have majorly supported TMC so far. The district is also infamous for intense violence ahead of polls. 

Among the most high-profile candidates, it is BJP`s Swapan Dasgupta contesting from the Tarakeswar constituency in Hooghly. 

In the Arambagh constituency, TMC has fielded Sujata Mondal Khan against CPI(M)’s Sakti Mohan Malik and BJP`s Madhusudhan Bag. The interesting fact is Sujata Mondal Khan is the wife of BJP MP Saumitra Khan.

Diamond Harbour is the parliamentary constituency of TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee, the nephew of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

Section 144

The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Monday (April 5) imposed prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the CrPC, in all constituencies were polls are to be held on Tuesday, describing them as ‘sensitive’. 

A total of 832 companies of central security forces have been deployed in the constituencies to ensure a peaceful election. Out of these, 214 companies of Quick Response Teams (QRTs) will be present in the third phase.  

Polling for the first two phases of the West Bengal elections were held on March 27 and April 1 respectively. The fourth phase of polling will take place on April 10.

(With ANI inputs)