West Bengal election 2021 LIVE Updates: The TMC also released a purported audio clip claiming that Roy was talking to another BJP leader Shishir Bajoria about 'approaching the EC over the rules for appointing polling booth agents'
Representational image. PTI
West Bengal election 2021 LATEST updates
Jhargram, Medinipur, Patashpur and Ramnagar are among the big seats in Bengal in this phase, with Medinipur of particular interest because it is the home turf of Suvendu Adhikari, the TMC turncoat and former close aide of Mamata Banerjee, whose defection to the BJP triggered a furious row with his former party.
The Trinamool has fielded Bengali actor June Malia from this seat against the BJP's Samit Kumar Das.
West Bengal election 2021 LATEST updates
Poll ends for the first phase of #WestBengalAssemblyElection2021; visuals from a polling booth in Purulia pic.twitter.com/w6Caj5QU3h
— ANI (@ANI) March 27, 2021
West Bengal election 2021 LATEST updates
A clash broke out on Saturday between activists of the BJP and the TMC in Purba Medinipur's Nandigram constituency — which is set to go to polls on 1 April — leaving at least three people seriously injured, PTI reported. Seikh Sufiyan, the election agent of TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee, however, claimed that goons hired by the BJP carried out an attack on the workers of the state's ruling party, a charge denied by the saffron camp.
"All three, who sustained injuries during the attack, are activists of the TMC. They were rushed to SSKM hospital in Kolkata. The condition of one of them has been stated to be serious," Sufiyan said.
West Bengal election 2021 LATEST updates
The Bankura, Jhargram, and Paschim Medinipur districts all recorded just above 80 percent voter turnout. Purbo Medinipur district remained in the lead, with 82.42 percent turnout.
Bankura: 80.03 percent
Jhargram: 80.55 percent
Paschim Medinipur: 82.42 percent
Purulia: 77.13 percent
West Bengal election 2021 LATEST updates
Voting underway at a polling booth in Contai in the first phase of polling for West Bengal Assembly elections pic.twitter.com/58NgxCe2rJ
— ANI (@ANI) March 27, 2021
West Bengal election 2021 LATEST updates
Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot on Saturday alleged that the BJP practices "politics without principles" and was pumping huge amount of money in West Bengal to capture power in that state. He also said that Bengal will never go with such "communal and corrupt" political ideology of the BJP.
"BJP is pumping huge money in West Bengal to capture power by hook or by crook as part of politics without principles. People of West Bengal will give them befitting reply by keeping them away from power," Gehlot tweeted.
West Bengal is voting in eight phases for 294 seats beginning on Saturday. In the first phase, 30 assembly segments will go to polls and will be almost a straight fight between the BJP and ruling TMC.
BJP is pumping huge money in West Bengal to capture power by hook or by crook as part of its politics without principles. People of West Bengal will give them befitting reply by keeping them away from power.
— Ashok Gehlot (@ashokgehlot51) March 27, 2021
West Bengal election 2021 LATEST updates
West Bengal election 2021 LATEST updates
A huge controversy erupted on Saturday amid the polling for 30 Assembly seats in West Bengal, with the BJP releasing an audio clip where Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is purportedly heard cajoling a BJP leader from Nandigram to rejoin the TMC and help her win the seat.
Banerjee is pitted against her former protege and current BJP candidate Suvendu Adhikari in Nandigram, the seat that propelled her to power in 2011, dislodging the Left Front from power after a 34-year unbroken rule. A BJP delegation, led by party general secretary and Bengal minder Kailash Vijayvargiya, met the state's chief electoral officer and handed over the tape, claiming Banerjee was using her official position to influence the outcome of the bitterly-contested Assembly poll.
West Bengal election 2021 LATEST updates
Alleging that the BJP was bringing in goons from outside West Bengal to stop people from exercising their franchise in Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday urged women to "confront the hoodlums with ladle, spatula" and other cooking utensils. Addressing two public rallies at Narayangarh and Pingla in West Midnapore district, the TMC chief dubbed TMC turncoat Suvendu Adhikari and his family as "traitors", and claimed that one member of the household was seen distributing money among people on Friday night, hours before 30 Assembly constituencies of the state went to polls.
"Yesterday, one of the Adhikari brothers was seen distributing money... Women in the area caught him red-handed and asked the police to arrest him. They also handed over 30 goons, all hired from outside, to the police," she said.
West Bengal election 2021 LATEST updates
A total of 70.17 percent voter turnout was recorded in the first phase of the West Bengal Assembly election till 4.12 pm, the official Election Commission app showed. The Jhargram district, which was in the lead on Saturday morning, was narrowly surpassed by the Purba Medinipur district, which recorded 72.32 percent voter turnout.
Meanwhile, Jhargram recorded 72.10 percent so far.
West Bengal election 2021 LATEST updates
"In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls when a Bangladeshi actor attended our rally, BJP spoke to the Bangladesh government and cancelled his visa... When polls are underway here, you (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) go to Bangladesh to seek votes from one section of people, why shouldn't your visa be cancelled? We will complain to EC," said TMC chief Mamata Banerjee said at a rally in Kharagpur on Saturday.
The first phase of the Bengal election is being held in 30 Assembly constituencies currently.
West Bengal election 2021 LATEST updates: The 'audio clip war' in West Bengal on Saturday heated up with the TMC also releasing a purported audio clip and alleging that BJP leader Mukul Roy was talking about influencing the Election Commission, reports said.
"In the audio clip, Mukul Roy tells Shishir Bajoria that they must approach the EC asking for changes in rules so that others are allowed to be booth agents and not just in localities or else BJP won't be able to give agents in a large section of booths, TMC has alleged," India Today reported.
The Bankura, Jhargram, and Paschim Medinipur districts all recorded just above 80 percent voter turnout. Purbo Medinipur district remained in the lead, with 82.42 percent turnout.
Bankura: 80.03 percent
Jhargram: 80.55 percent
Paschim Medinipur: 82.42 percent
Purulia: 77.13 percent
A huge controversy erupted on Saturday amid the polling for 30 Assembly seats in West Bengal, with the BJP releasing an audio clip where Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is purportedly heard cajoling a BJP leader from Nandigram to rejoin the TMC and help her win the seat.
Banerjee is pitted against her former protege and current BJP candidate Suvendu Adhikari in Nandigram, the seat that propelled her to power in 2011, dislodging the Left Front from power after a 34-year unbroken rule. A BJP delegation, led by party general secretary and Bengal minder Kailash Vijayvargiya, met the state's chief electoral officer and handed over the tape, claiming Banerjee was using her official position to influence the outcome of the bitterly-contested Assembly poll.
A total of 70.17 percent voter turnout was recorded in the first phase of the West Bengal Assembly election till 4.12 pm, the official Election Commission app showed. The Jhargram district, which was in the lead on Saturday morning, was narrowly surpassed by the Purba Medinipur district, which recorded 72.32 percent voter turnout.
Meanwhile, Jhargram recorded 72.10 percent so far.
Sisir Adhikari, the father of TMC turncoat and BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari, cast his vote at a polling booth in Contai on Saturday afternoon. Sisir followed in his son's footsteps and joined the BJP last week.
"We will take the help of more Central forces at polling booths from now only ahead of second phase of elections," he was quoted as saying by The Times of India.
The official handle of the Trinamool Congress tweeted that voters in the Kanthi Dakshin seat were casting their ballot for TMC but the VVPAT was showing them the BJP symbol.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi urged voters on Saturday to cast their ballots against "divisive forces" to strengthen democracy as polling began for the first phase of the Assembly elections in West Bengal and Assam.
"Do cast your ballot against divisive forces to strengthen democracy," Rahul Gandhi said in a tweet in Hindi.
The Congress is contesting the West Bengal polls in a coalition with the Left parties and the Indian Secular Front (ISF). Elections to the 294-member state Assembly are to be held in eight phases starting Saturday, with the final round of voting scheduled to take place on April 29.
Sporadic incidents of violence were reported from some areas that are voting in the first phase of the Assembly elections in West Bengal on Saturday, even as the overall poll situation was peaceful with 36.09 percent turnout recorded till 11 am.
The car of Soumendu Adhikari, BJP agent of south Contai candidate was vandalised in Kanthi South in West Medinipur district. The BJP is pointing fingers at TMC for the violence.
Meanwhile, BJP West Bengal in-charge Kailash Vijayvargiya will be meeting poll officials later on Saturday to report the incidents of violence.
BJP's candidate for West Medinipur Samit Das on Saturday alleged that few TMC workers tried to influence voters at polling booth 206 and 207 during the phase 1 of West Bengal polls.
A delegation of TMC MPs will meet the poll officials in Bengal on Saturday at 12 pm to 'raise some serious concerns', as voting for the first phase of Assembly elections is underway.
Two security personnel were injured after a firing incident was reported in Satsatmal, Bhagabanpur Assembly seat on Saturday ahead of voting for West Bengal polls.
Of the 30 seats in first phase of Bengal polls, the BJP is contesting on 29; one has been given to the All Jharkhand Students Union. The Trinamool will also contest on 29 seats and support an independent candidate for the other seat.
According to media reports, voting on Saturday was stopped in Kharagpur after EVM malfunction was reported from polling booth 98 and 99.
Jhargram, Medinipur, Patashpur and Ramnagar are among the big seats in Bengal in this phase, with Medinipur of particular interest because it is the home turf of Suvendu Adhikari, the TMC turncoat and former close aide of Mamata Banerjee, whose defection to the BJP triggered a furious row with his former party.
Over 73 lakh voters from five districts — all of Purulia and Jhargram, and parts of Bankura, West Medinipur and East Medinipur — will vote in the around 10,200 booths of the first phase of the Bengal election.
In the first phase of polling on Saturday, 23 seats of Jungle Mahal — which has an SC population of 22 percent and an ST population of 15 percent — will vote.
West Bengal is all set to go for voting on Saturday (27 March) in the first phase of Assembly elections.
More than 73 lakh voters in the state will decide the fate of 191 candidates across 30 Assembly segments, most of which are in the once-Naxal-affected Jungle Mahal region, as the state goes to the polls in the first phase on Saturday.
The elections will be held amid tight security with the Election Commission deploying around 684 companies of central forces that would guard 10,288 polling booths housed in 7,061 premises, officials said. Besides, the state police will also be deployed at strategic locations, they added.
In the first phase, polling will take place amid strict guidelines in all nine seats in Purulia, four in Bankura, four in Jhargram and six in Paschim Medinipur, besides the seven seats in high-stakes Purba Medinipur — the home ground of BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari. The TMC and BJP have fielded candidates in 29 seats each, while the Left-Congress-ISF alliance has put up candidates in all 30 seats, even as there are "friendly fights" in some.
With the first phase, polling will be over in two districts — Purulia and Jhargram. The Trinamool Congress is fighting in 29 of the 30 seats while supporting an Independent in the Joypur Assembly segment in Purulia as the nomination of its official candidate Ujjwal Kumar was rejected by the EC due to a discrepancy.
Dibyajyoti Singhdeo, known to be a disgruntled TMC leader who filed the nomination as an Independent, is now backed by the party and is up against BJP's Narahari Mahato, who is a former Forward Bloc MP.
The Left Front has fielded Dhirendra Nath Mahato of Forward Bloc from the seat, while Congress fielded Phanibhushan Kumar as the two sides could not reach an
agreement over the seat. The BJP is also contesting the polls in 29 seats, while its ally AJSU Party of Jharkhand fielding a candidate in Baghmundi.
Congress heavyweight Nepal Mahato is the alliance candidate from the seat, even as the Forward Bloc fielded Debranjan Mahato. AJSU Party has nominated Ashutosh Mahato, while the TMC fielded Sushanta Mahato.
As per the official seat-sharing arrangements of the Opposition alliance, the Left is fighting in 18 seats, Congress in 10 and ISF two. However, 'friendly fights' between the Left parties and Congress are on the anvil in some seats, including Baghmundi and Joypur, as negotiations could not be concluded.
Among the other notable seats going to the polls in the first phase is Salboni, where the CPM has fielded former minister Susanta Ghosh against BJP's Rajib Kundu and TMC's Srikanta Mahata.
Ghosh, the MLA of Garbeta from 1987 to 2016, was in jail in the skeleton recovery case and is at present out on bail.
The TMC has fielded actor June Malia, a known face in the Bengali silver screen, from the Medinipur seat against BJP's Samit Kumar Dash. The Left-led alliance candidate is Tarun Kumar Ghosh of the CPI.
In the Ranibandh seat, former Left minister Debalina Hembram is the CPI(M) candidate, while TMC has fielded Jyotsna Mandi and BJP nominated Kshudiram Tudu.
In another significant contest, Santhali actor Birbaha Hansda is fighting on a TMC ticket from Jhargram against BJP's Sukhamay Satpathy and CPI(M)'s youth leader Madhuja Sen Roy.
The seven seats in Purba Medinipur — Patashpur, Kanthi Uttar, Bhagabanpur, Khejuri, Kanthi Dakshin, Ramnagar and Egra — will also be closely watched in a fight of prestige between the influential Adhikari family and the TMC.
Total 73,80,942 voters will be exercising their franchise in the first phase. Jungle Mahal is tribal-dominated and the BJP made massive inroads in the region with the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, winning all five constituencies — Purulia, Bankura, Jhargram, Medinipur and Bishnupur.
West Bengal will be voting in eight phases for 294 seats, starting on Friday. The votes will be counted on 2 May.
With inputs from PTI
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