1.50 pm: An approximate voter turnout of 48.26% was recorded in Assam till 1.50 pm, while a turnout of 58.15% was reported in West Bengal, trends from the Election Commission show.

1.36 pm: Trinamool Congress leader Derek O’Brien writes to the Election Commission, alleging that BJP workers were capturing booths in Nandigram, reports NDTV. “Huge mob of BJP workers have entered booth no.s [number] 6, 7, 49, 27, 162, 21, 26, 13, 262, 256, 163, 20,” he alleges. “BJP workers attempting to take control of EVM and rigging the booth.”

1.28 pm: The convoy of BJP candidate from Keshpur seat, Pritish Ranjan Kuar, was attacked by unidentified miscreants, reports India Today.

1.07 pm: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is campaigning in Assam, draws a football analogy and says that people there have shown the “red card” to the Congress-led Grand Alliance in the state, reports PTI. He also accuses the previous Congress governments of “being a mute spectator to unbridled violence” in the Bodo dominated areas of the state.

1.04 pm: Trinamool Congress leaders in West Bengal complain about EVM disruptions in several constituencies, reports NDTV.

1 pm: A vehicle of a media person was attacked near a polling booth in Kamalpur area of Nandigram constituency, reports ANI. Bharatiya Janata Party leader Suvendu Adhikari claims the alleged assault was the “work of Pakistanis”. “There are voters from a particular community at the booth who are doing this,” he alleges.

12.56 pm: At his rally in Assam, Prime Minister Narendra Modi claims that people of the state have given the “National Democratic Alliance their blessings” in the first phase of polling, reports The Indian Express. “In the first phase, Assam has put a stamp on grand victory of NDA,” he claims.

11.45 am: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is addressing an election rally in Assam’s Kokrajhar.

11.32 am: BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari alleges that a party worker was beaten in Samsabad’s Kanchan Nagar area during the polling, reports ANI. He, however, says that the overall situation in the state is peaceful.

11.30 am: West Bengal has recorded a voter turnout of 37.42% till 11.30 am, according to the Election Commission. Meanwhile, Assam saw a turnout of 27.45% till the same time.

11.20 am: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has decided to stay in Reyapara area in Nandigram Assembly constituency for the whole day, reports PTI. The chief minister is contesting against former party colleague-turned-rival Suvendu Adhikari, who switched to the BJP just ahead of the polls.

Banerjee is monitoring the situation as local Trinamool Congress leaders complained of their election agents not being allowed to enter several booths, according to PTI.

10.37 am: All India United Democratic Front Badruddin Ajmal chief Badruddin Ajmal casts his vote during the second phase of polling in Assam. “PM Modi and Amit Shah have said they’ll send Bangladeshi infiltrators back...I want to ask them how many Bangladeshis [have they] sent back till now,” he tells ANI.

The AIUDF is the main ally of the Congress in the 10-party mahajot or grand alliance that seeks to oust the Bharatiya Janata Party and its regional partners from power in the state.

10.35 am: According to the Election Commission, 10.51% voter turnout was recorded in Assam till 10.30 am.

10.02 am: Voter turnout in the 30 Bengal constituencies voting today is 15.72% as of 10 am, Election Commission data showed.

8.57 am: Bharatiya Janata Party candidate from Debra constituency, Bharati Ghosh, alleges that her poll agent has been “surrounded by 150 TMC goons” and has not been allowed to enter the polling booth, reports ANI. Ghosh also alleges that the Trinamool Congress was threatening voters in Barunia.

8.52 am: Prime Minister Narendra Modi urges voters in West Bengal and Assam to cast their ballots in large numbers “to strengthen the festival of democracy”.

8.48 am: Authorities in Nagaon constituency of Assam conduct temperature checks of voters.

The Election Commission has also taken a series of measures in its effort to halt the spread of the coronavirus. It has increased the number of polling stations, extended the voting time by one hour at most places and sanitisation of electronic voting machines has been made mandatory.

8.43 am: A Trinamool Congress worker was allegedly stabbed to death in West Bengal’s Paschim Medinipur district in the early hours of Thursday, hours before polling started in the area, PTI reports, quoting the police. The Election Commission has sought a report from district authorities over the incident.

Uttam Dolui was at a local club in Hariharpur in the district’s Keshpur area along with a few others when around 10-15 people allegedly attacked him with sharp weapons, according to the police.. He died on the way to a hospital in Midnapore.

Dolui’s family alleged that “Bharatiya Janata Party goons” attacked him to create tension in the area and intimidate voters ahead of the polling. The BJP dismissed the allegations, saying they have no reason for resorting to violence as they are confident about winning the Keshpur seat.

8.17 am: Suvendhu Adhikari appeals to the people to vote in large numbers on Thursday, ANI reports. “People are waiting to see if development or politics of appeasement will win here [Nandigram],” he adds.

7.45 am: A day ahead of the polls, the Election Commission imposed prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure in Nandigram Assembly seat.

The prohibitory orders will last till Friday night, the official said. “A person who is not a voter of Nandigram will not be allowed to enter the area till polling is over,” he said, adding that the order prohibits the assembly of five or more persons, besides other restrictions. Nandigram has 355 polling booths.

More about Nandigram

It was this constituency that catapulted Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to power on the back of the land acquisition movement in 2007. The agitation paved the way for the Trinamool Congress’ victory in the 2011 Assembly elections, ending 34 years of Left rule in West Bengal.

Fourteen years later, the seat has emerged as the defining battle of the 2021 elections.

Banerjee has relinquished her old constituency, Bhowanipore, to fight against her former aide Suvendu Adhikari, who switched over to the Bharatiya Janata Party in December. Adhikari’s exit sparked an exodus of TMC leaders who joined the saffron camp in the following months.

Also in the fray is, Congress-Left-ISF alliance’s candidate Minakshi Mukherjee of CPI-M.

The Nandigram Assembly seat has been with Trinamool since 2009, when the party won the bye election there. Before that it was a Congress and then a Communist Party of India stronghold, according to The Indian Express.

In the 2016 Assembly elections, Adhikari won the seat by 81,320 votes. In 2019, the Tamluk Lok Sabha seat was won by Suvendu Adhikari’s brother Dibyendu Adhikari, who has also joined the BJP. The saffron party came second, getting over 60,000 votes in the Nandigram segment, the newspaper reports.

(Dibyangshu SARKAR / AFP)

7.30 am: Voters queue up to cast their ballot in Assam.

7.28 am: The Bengali-dominated Barak Valley is expected to witness the key contests in this phase, where All India United Democratic Front’s Badruddin Ajmal has joined hands with the Congress. He is expected to be a key player in this area, with the population equally divided between Hindus and Muslims.

7.26 am: Four ministers and the deputy speaker are among the candidates contesting on 39 of the Assam’s 126 seats. In 2016, the BJP won 22 of the seats, the Asom Gana Parishad won two. The Bodoland People’s Front, a former BJP ally, had won four seats, according to NDTV.

The ministers who are contesting include Parimal Suklabaidya, Piyush Hazarika, and Bhabesh Kalita. Deputy Speaker Aminul Haque Laskar of the BJP is in a straight fight against All India United Democratic Front’s Karim Uddin Barbhuiyan in Sonai.

7.24 am: In Assam, the second phase of elections will decide the fate of 345 candidates.There are These are the six regions which will vote on Thursday: Barak Valley (15 seats), Central Assam (12 seats, Hill districts (5 seats), Bodoland Territorial Council (4 seats), Kamrup (2 seats) and Lower Assam (1 seat), according to The Quint.

7.22 am: Besides Nandigram, another prominent seat going to the poll in the second phase is Sabang, where the TMC has fielded Rajya Sabha MP Manas Bhunia. He is up against TMC turncoat and BJP leader Amulya Maity.

Bhunia, a former state Congress president, had held the seat from 1982 to 2016 as the Congress nominee before switching over to the TMC in September 2016.

TMC has fielded actor Sayantika Banerjee, a popular face in the Bengali silver screen, from Bankura seat against BJP’s Niladri Sekhar Dana. The Sanjukta Morcha has fielded Congress candidate Radharani Banerjee.

7.20 am: Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress and the BJP are contesting in all the 30 seats, while the Communist Party of India (Marxist) is in the fray in 15. Its alliance partners of Sanjukta Morcha, the Congress and the Indian Secular Front are competing in 13 and two seats respectively, according to PTI.

7.17 am: In West Bengal, more than 75 lakh voters will decide the fate of 191 candidates in 30 seats. All eyes will be on Nandigram where Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is locked in a prestige battle with her former confidante Suvendu Adhikari of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

7.15 am: Voters in West Bengal and Assam will cast their ballots in the second phase of the Assembly elections on Thursday. Thirty constituencies in Bengal and 39 in Assam vote today.