The third phase of the Assembly elections in West Bengal will be held in 75 constituencies in Kolkata, North 24 Parganas and South 24 Parganas on Wednesday with around 1.45 crore voters deciding the fate of 479 contesting candidates. Like the earlier two phases, this time also the Election Commission (EC) is determined to
ensure free, fair and peaceful polling with deployment of 607 companies of the Central paramilitary forces, besides a large contingent of the Kolkata police and the West Bengal police on the day of polling in Kolkata, North 24 Parganas and South 24 Parganas.
In 2006 Assembly polls, the Left Front had won 52 constituencies, while the Trinamul Congress, the Congress and the SUCI had won 18, three and two seats respectively. In the 2009 Lok Sabha elections which were held after delimitation, the Left Front was ahead in just four Assembly segments in South 24 Parganas and in five Assembly segments in North 24 Parganas. The Congress-Trinamul Congress combine was ahead in all the Assembly segments in Kolkata. Later, in byelections in six Assembly constituencies in these three districts, the Trinamul Congress had won all the six seats.
Though the total number of Assembly constituencies remains same at 75, the delimitation process, however, has reduced the number of seats in Kolkata to 11 compared to 21 in 2006 elections. Similarly, post-delimitation, the number of Assembly constituencies in North 24 Parganas and South 24 Parganas have gone up to 33 and 31 from 28 and 26, respectively, in 2006.
State chief electoral officer Sunil Gupta said, “The total number of voters in the third phase is 1,44,68,557. The total number of candidates who are in the fray is 479. We have set up 17,792 polling stations in these three districts.”
The commission has deployed 85,633 polling personnel to conduct election on Wednesday. Elaborating on the security arrangements for the polls, he informed that all booths would be manned by the Central forces. It has been learnt that around 607 companies of the Central forces would be deployed in Kolkata, North 24 Parganas and South 24 Parganas.