Poll carnival ends in Bengal; survey defeats Left
Curtains finally came down on a staggered six-phase assembly elections in West Bengal with the conclusion of the final leg in three Maoist-violence affected districts on Tuesday, amid projections by an exit poll that the Left Front would lose power after 34 years of uninterrupted governance in the eastern state.
According to an exit poll by Bengali news channel Star Ananda with A C Nielsen, the Left Front would get 62 seats in the 294 member assembly while the alliance of Trinamool Congress and Congress will form the government with an overwhelming majority of 221 seats.
The exit poll gave two seats to BJP and 9 seats to other parties.
On Tuesday, West Midnapore, Purulia and Bankura districts were up for grabs as 97 candidates fought it out for 14 of the 294 seats vying for the approval of over 26.57 lakh voters divided amongst over 3,500 polling stations.
While 38 candidates contested in 7 seats of West Midnapore, 37 candidates were in the fray for 4 seats of Purulia. 22 candidates contested in 3 seats of Bankura. The other seats of the districts had seen polling in the fifth phase held on May 7.
The sixth phase saw a huge voter turnout of around 84%. The voting percentages in West Midnapore was 86.26%, Purulia 76.59% and Bankura 84.21%, initial reports said.
The polling was largely peaceful except some sporadic incidents reported from West Midnapore where an explosion was heard in a forest.
In West Midnapore?s Garbeta area, three Communist party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M) activists were arrested for allegedly rigging in booth numbers 96A and 113.
In Baghbindha village of the district, only 18 out of 1100 voters cast their votes. The villagers reportedly fled from the area fearing Maoists attack. It was only after the Election Commission urged the villagers that 18 voters turned up to cast their votes.
In Salboni area of the district, a CPI-M activist was arrested for allegedly carrying a fake Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) in a particular booth.
Polling began at 7 am. Voters, who did not bring the Voter ID card (EPIC) or have not been issued the EPIC so far, were allowed to vote on production of any one of the photo documents as specified by the Election Commission.
Officials said fool-proof security arrangements were made for polling regions, which include Maoist-prone areas.
Two helicopters were brought in by the Home and Defence ministries for aerial surveillance in the volatile area that included Jangalmahal where the writ of the rebels runs.
People’s Committee against Police Atrocities (PCPA), a body allegedly supported by the Maoists and blamed for the horrific Jnaneswari Express derailment, is strong in some of these areas.
Jailed PCPA leader Chhatradhar Mahato fought Tuesday?s polls as an Independent candidate from the Jharagram seat.
West Bengal voted from Apr 18, in six phases, till Tuesday (May 10) for its 294 seat Assembly, in a watershed election where the ruling communists faced the most difficult poll battle of its tenure since 1977.
It is an uber-hyped election with the attention of global media focused on the state known for the world’s longest ruling democratically elected communist government.
The growing strength and acceptance of Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress party came as a big threat to the over-three-decade-long Left rule now, considerably weakened by its land acquisition for industrialization policies that alienated the red from the farmers.
The land acquisition policies of the Left- which gave birth to movements in Singur and Nandigram and spread statewide- turned out to be the biggest setback for the Marxist as the opposition made deep inroads in the traditional rural bases of the communists.
The total number of voters in West Bengal taking into account all six phases is 5,60,91,973.
All eyes are now on the counting of votes on May 13.