West Bengal Assembly Elections 2021 Phase 2 Voting Live: Focus on Nandigram as voting gets underway in 30 constituencies

West Bengal Assembly Elections 2021 Phase 2 Polling Live Updates: Polling is underway in West Bengal for the 30 assembly constituencies spread across four districts today. 75,94,549 voters are eligible to decide the fate of 171 candidates. Of these 171 candidates, 152 are men and 19 are women. The Election Commission has set up 10,620 polling booths spread across the 30 constituencies. All eyes are on battleground Nandigram, where TMC chief and CM Mamata Banerjee has locked horns with her protege-turned-rival Suvendu Adhikari. Adhikari had joined the BJP in December last year. Meanwhile, the Election Commission has imposed prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the CrPC in the Nandigram assembly constituency. The EC has also started air surveillance in the area with the help of a helicopter. People who are not voters of Nandigram are not being allowed to enter the constituency in view of the sensitivity. The commission has also deployed a 22-personnel quick response team (QRT) in the area today. While CM Banerjee has accused the BJP of roping in former CPI(M) goons to fight her, the saffron party has knocked on the door of the Election Commission alleging threat by the CM. Accusing Mamata Banerjee of issuing threats to its supporters, BJP has registered a complaint with the EC. In its letter to the poll panel, BJP mentioned in its letter about a widely circulated video of a meeting addressed by Banerjee at Nandigram on March 29 in which she allegedly said that central paramilitary forces will go one day, but she will stay in Bengal. “Who will then save her rivals,” the letter quoted Banerjee as saying.

Tuesday was the final day of the campaigning for phase-2. It saw hectic canvassing for the Nandigram seat in Purba Medinipur district. Union Home Minister Amit Shah held roadshows with Bengal’s megastar Mithun Chakraborty in support of Adhikari in Nandigram while Mamata Banerjee, who is confined to a wheelchair, crisscrossed the constituency addressing rallies and taking out a Padayatra. Nandigram and Singur are two regions that led to the 2007 uprising against the then CPI-M government in West Bengal. The movement helped Banerjee surge to power in 2011, ending a 34-year-old Left regime. All the booths where polling will be held in the second phase have been declared sensitive by the EC. The EC has deployed a total of 651 companies of Central Armed Police for this phase of the election which will be held in Bankura (Part II), Purba Medinipur (Part II), Paschim Medinipur (Part II) and South 24 Parganas (Part I). A total of 199 companies of CAPF will be deployed in Purba Medinipur, 210 companies in Paschim Medinipur, 170 in South 24 Parganas and 72 in Bankura, the sources said.