Campaigning ends for fourth phase of LS polls in Bengal

The high-voltage campaigning by different political parties for the fourth phase of Lok Sabha election in eight constituencies of West Bengal slated for April 29 came to an end on Saturday evening.

The constituencies which go to polls on Monday are Baharampur, Krishnagar, Ranaghat(SC), Burdwan East(SC), Burdwan-Durgapur, Asansol, Bolpur(SC) and Birbhum. An electorate of 1,34,56,491 will decide the fate of 68 candidates in these eight constituencies, the EC said.

All the eight seats, which are spread across four districts, will see a four-cornered contest between Trinamool Congress, BJP, Congress and the Left Front. The Election Commission will deploy a total of 580 companies of central forces, which will cover all the polling booths in the eight Lok Sabha constituencies to ensure free and fair polling, officials said.

The campaign for eight parliamentary seats where polling will be held on Monday saw roadshows and poll meetings by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP chief Amit Shah, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. TMC has fielded Apurba Sarkar(David) against the sitting Congress MP, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury in Baharampur seat. The Left Front constituent RSP has nominated Id Mohammad, while the BJP has nominated Krishna Joyardar.

In Krishnagar, the TMC has fielded Mahua Moitra against BJP’s Kalyan Chaubey, a footballer. The Congress has nominated Intaj Ali Shah and the CPI(M) Shantanu Jha. Ranaghat (SC) will see TMC’s Rupali Biswas locking horns with BJP’s Jagannath Sarkar. Congress has nominated Minati Biswas and the CPI(M) Rama Biswas.