Assembly Elections 2021: Second phase of voting gets underway in Assam, West Bengal

By Team Newsable | First Published Apr 1, 2021, 9:44 AM IST

Covid-19 protocols for the voters including social distancing and thermal screening are being maintained.

The voting for the second phase of the Assam and West Bengal Assembly Elections began on Thursday morning amid tight security and all Covid-19 protocols.

In Assam, men, women and the first-time voters in large numbers queued up in front of the polling stations well before the voting for 39 of the total of 126 assembly seats opened at 7 a.m.

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Polling began at 7 am, including the high-profile Nandigram seat, in the second phase of the West Bengal assembly elections amid tight security.

However, incidents of violence were reported in some areas as the house of a TMC booth agent was allegedly ransacked, another was ‘forced to return home’, a Trinamool worked was reportedly hacked to death in West Midnapore and polling agents were heckled in booth number 14 of Nandigram.

Voting is underway with strict adherence to Covid-19 protocols in nine seats each in Purba and Paschim Medinipur districts, eight in Bankura and four in South 24 Parganas.

Long queues were seen outside polling stations, where voting will continue till 6.30 pm. More than 75 lakh voters will decide the fate of 191 candidates in 30 constituencies, as eyes are set on Nandigram where Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is contesting against her former lieutenant and BJP candidate Suvendu Adhikari.

On the other hand, in Assam, 27 constituencies are going to polls today and have an electorate between 1.5 and 2 lakh.

On Thursday, the electoral fate of several Assam Ministers including Fisheries, Excise, Environment and Forest Minister Parimal Suklabaidya, Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Piyush Hazarika, state Irrigation Minister Bhabesh Kalita and Deputy Speaker Aminul Haque Laskar will be sealed.

The polling would continue till 6 pm without any break in 13 districts.

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