Polling was underway for 142 of the 294 seats in eight districts in the second and final phase of the West Bengal Assembly elections on Wednesday, with no reports of any major untoward incident, even as Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee accused police officers from other states deployed as observers of targeting Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders and workers.
Banerjee expressed his hope for peaceful elections. We want the vote to happen peacefully so that people can exercise their rights.” She accused observers from other states of resorting to committing atrocities on Tuesday night. “I had to stay awake all night. They are intensifying pressure on local police stations to arrest TMC workers.”
She said that central forces arrived at the Kolkata municipal councilor’s residence around 2 am, snatched his mobile phone and threatened him. “Our workers are being beaten,” Banerjee said as she took to the streets in her constituency of Bhabanipur. She visited Sheetla for the first time, where she claimed that TMC posters had been torn down.
All eyes were on Bhabanipur, where Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is contesting against BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari. In 2021, he defeated Adhikari Banerjee from Nandigram by 1,956 votes. Adhikari visited the Hanuman temple before the polls.
In a post on X, Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged people to vote in record numbers to make democracy more vibrant and participatory. “In particular, it is extremely urgent that women and youth forces in West Bengal turn out in large numbers to exercise their voting rights.”
Voter turnout averaged 18.39% as of 9 a.m. Purba Bardhaman recorded the highest turnout at 20.86% and South Kolkata the lowest (16.81%).
TMC supporters allegedly attacked a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) operative at Chhabra in Nadia. In Hooghly, a scuffle broke out between supporters of the TMC and the Indian Secular Front. The BJP camp office was allegedly ransacked in Nadia’s Shantipur.
On April 23, polling was held in 152 constituencies in the first phase of elections, recording a turnout of 93.19% – the highest ever in any Assembly or Lok Sabha election in West Bengal. In the first phase, voter turnout by 9 a.m. was 18.76%. The results will be announced on May 4.
