Team News Riveting
Kolkata, April 21
Political fate of 306 candidates would be sealed on Thursday as the state geared up for the sixth phase of polls.
Over one crore voters would exercise their franchise in the 43 assembly constituencies that would go to polls in the sixth phase, amid a raging second wave of COVID-19. A thick security blanket had been thrown open in view of the violence in the previous phases, particularly the death of five people in Cooch Behar in the fourth phase of polling on April 10, an Election Commission official said.
The poll panel has decided to deploy at least 1,071 companies of central forces in the sixth phase to ensure free and fair voting, he said. It will also put in place measures to ensure strict adherence to COVID-19 protocols during the voting process, the official said.
West Bengal on Tuesday registered its highest-single- day spike of 9,819 new COVID-19 cases, which took the tally to 6,78,172, and at least 46 more people succumbed to the infection, pushing the toll to 10,652. Both the TMC and the BJP have pitched hard to gain the confidence of Matuas, who make for a large chunk of the state’s Scheduled Caste population, in most of the 17 assembly segments going to polls in this phase in North 24 Parganas district and some of the nine seats in Nadia.
