West Bengal: Polls today in 31 seats in second part of phase 1

The second round of the first phase 1(b) of the six-phase Assembly polls will be held on Monday. Thirty one Assembly constituencies — thirteen in West Midnapore and nine each in Bankura and Burdwan — will go to poll on Monday, where over 70 lakh voters will decide the fate of 163 contesting candidates, including 21 women.

The polling in these 31 constituencies will begin at 7 am and will continue till 6 pm. The EC has made elaborate security arrangements to ensure peaceful polling and will deploy Central paramilitary forces in every polling station. Sector forces, quick response teams and flying squads will be used to keep surveillance outside the polling booths.

In the second round of the first phase, there are 8,465 booths with 6,364 polling station locations. Of the 70 lakh voters in this phase, 33.6 lakh are women and 50 belong to the third gender.

The total number of electors in West Midnapore is 29,73,219, of which 29,68,940 are normal electors (male: 15,21,851, female: 14,47,081, third gender: 8) and service electors are 4,270 (male: 3,300, female: 1,249).

The total number of electors in Bankura is 19,85,616 of which 19,80,202 are normal electors (male: 10,17,370, female: 9,62,814) and service electors are 5,414 (male: 3,839, female: 1,575). The number of electors in Burdwan is 20,30,646 of which 10,72,206 are male, 9,58,416 are female and 24 belong to the third gender. The number candidates in West Midnapore is 59 (male: 52, female: 7), 54 in Bankura (male: 48, female: 6) and 50 in Burdwan (male: 42, female: 8).

The total number of electronic voting machines (EVMs) that will be used in this phase is 8,465 (West Midnapore: 3,656, Bankura: 2,428 and Burdwan: 2,381) while EVMs on reserve will be 549 at West Midnapore, 383 at Bankura and 307 at Burdwan. A total of 36,638 poll personnel will be put into action for Monday’s poll process.

At West Midnapore, there will be 12 general observers, four expenditure observers, one police observer, one awareness observer and 381 micro observers. At Bankura there will be six general observers, two expenditure observers, one police observer, one awareness observer and 315 micro observers. At Burdwan, there will be five general observers, two expenditure observers, one police observer, one awareness observer and 787 micro observers.

To ensure a free and fair poll process, digital cameras will be used in West Midnapore at 286 polling stations and at 241 polling stations in Burdwan whereas 78 video cameras will be deployed in different districts in West Midnapore, 395 in Bankura and 109 in Burdwan. There will be 429 CCTVs installed at West Midnapore and 110 at Burdwan.

The six-phase elections for 294 Assembly seats in West Bengal are spread over seven polling dates and will continue till May 5.