clashes-erupt-between-tmc-workers-humayun-kabir-amid-polling

 

Amid ongoing voting, clashes erupted  between TMC workers and Aam Janata Unnayan Party (AUJP) founder Humayun Kabir in Murshidabad, West Bengal.Tension gripped Nowda in Murshidabad district a night before polling in the West Bengal assembly elections after unidentified persons allegedly hurled a crude bomb, leaving several people injured. Humayun Kabir is visiting the area where the crude bomb hurling incident was reported yesterday.

 

The polling for the high-stake assembly elections in West Bengal that will decide the fate of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her government is being held here on Thursday (April 23). The polling in the state is being held in two phases, with 152 assembly constituencies -- including all 54 in north Bengal's eight districts and several in Murshidabad, Nadia, Birbhum and Hooghly -- going to vote in the phase one on Thursday.

 

 

 

Banerjee and her Trinamool Congress (TMC) are seeking a fourth straight term in the state, while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is looking to form a government for the first time in the state. Aiming to dethrone Banerjee's government, the BJP had mobilised all its resources for the high-intensity poll campaign and reached out to the people. The phase one will also be BJP's best chance to offset Banerjee's enduring strength in south Bengal, as the party had won 59 of these 152 seats in the previous elections in 2021.

 

For Banerjee and the ruling TMC, it is important to keep the BJP's rise in the north under check to shaping the political mood for the rest of the contest. The three-time chief minister has also dubbed the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi as outsiders. On the other hand, the BJP is banking on the anti-incumbency against Banerjee to oust her from power and also made infiltration a key issue.

 

Talking about the figures, over 3.60 crore voters, including 1.75 crore women, are eligible to cast their votes in these elections. The Election Commission of India (ECI) has deployed 2,450 companies of central forces and identified over 8,000 polling stations as highly sensitive.