In a two-phase election for the West Bengal Legislative Assembly, today is Phase 1 of the voting, which has recorded a resounding 89.93% voter turnout till 5pm, as per the Election Commission.
Phase 1 elections are for 152 of the state’s 294 constituencies, with remaining seats to be casted vote on April 29.
Political Showdown
The election contest is majorly between the incumbent All India Trinamool Congress (TMC), led by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP), steered by Suvendu Adhikari, Leader of the Opposition.
Special Intensive Revision (SIR)
Election Commission of India (ECI)’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR), a process to determine the eligibility of voters in the Electoral Roll (ER), has been a centre of contention in the West Bengal polls.
CM Mamata Bannerjee has reportedly claimed the SIR as a “scam to remove names from the voter lists”.
However, in a letter to the ECI, Suvendu Adhikari dismissed CM Bannerjee’s claims and stated: “the SIR drive is throwing the spotlight on the TMC’s dirty secrets, fake voters and illegal infiltrators, which the TMC has allegedly protected for years to rig the elections”.
Illegal Immigrants and a Porous Border
A 2,217 km long, highly permeable border runs between West Bengal (Bharat) and Bangladesh.
As per former Border Security Force (BSF) Additional Director General P.K. Mishra, there are “2 to 6 crore Bangladeshi migrants in India”.
Furthermore, the former BSF chief Prakash Singh informed that, “the Bangladeshi chunk in India is the largest illegal migration from any one country to another”.
This undocumented infiltration from Bangladesh has adversely impacted West Bengal via land grabs, deforestation, trade grab, demographic shifts, influencing the state’s politics as well as unduly straining its natural and economic resources.
This issue was also highlighted during the ongoing state elections.
Election Violence, TMC goons Unleash Horror
BJP Candidate Agnimitra Paul’s car was attacked in Asansol South in a stone-pelting attack.
In Suri, BJP candidate Debashish Ojha’s election agent Bishwajit Mandal was attacked by workers of Trinamool Congress after reporting alleged booth capturing.
Result
Counting of votes and the declaration of result will be on May 4 (Monday).
