Voting in Bengal: 56% voting till 1 pm in 35 seats; Bomb throwing incident near the auditorium in North Kolkata, Election Commission sought a report

Voting continues for 7 seats in the 8th and the last phase of the West Bengal assembly elections from 7 am. By 1 pm 56.19% polling had already taken place. The fate of 283 candidates will be decided in this phase. In the Muslim-majority districts, everyone will keep an eye on the minority votes. From this point of view, this time the main contest is going to be between Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Congress. TMC and BJP have been facing to face in the last seven phases.

The bombing has taken place near the North Kolkata Mahajati Sadan Auditorium amid voting. It has asked for its report on the Election Commission.

753 companies of central forces for security

The Election Commission has deployed 753 companies of central security forces to prevent violence in the eighth phase. Birbhum, Murshidabad, and Malda district, known for the maximum violence, have the maximum number of personnel deployed. 224 companies of central security forces have been deployed in the Birbhum district. 212 companies have been deployed in Murshidabad, 110 in Malda, and 95 in Kolkata North.

84.78 lakh voters to cast votes at 11,860 booths

The fate of the candidates of these 35 seats will be decided by a total of 84 lakh 77 thousand 728 voters, including 41 lakh 21 thousand 735 women voters and 158 transgender voters. The number of male voters in these is 43 lakh 55 thousand 835. The voting will run till 6:30 pm. A total of 11,860 booths have been set up for voting. There are 3908 polling booths in Birbhum, 2073 in Malda, 3,796 in Murshidabad, and 2,083 in Kolkata North.

Congress and TMC dominate four districts

The 35 seats for which elections are being held in the eighth phase of West Bengal assembly elections include 6 seats in Malda, 11 in Birbhum, 11 in Murshidabad, and 7 in Kolkata North. In Malda and Murshidabad, voting was also held in some seats in the 7th phase. The CPI-Congress-ISF alliance in Murshidabad district, home of Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chaudhary, is expecting good results.

Talking about the results of 2016, out of these 35 seats, Mamta Banerjee's party won 17 seats, while Congress won 13 seats. BJP could win only one seat and 3 seats went to the Communist Party of India (Marxist). Apart from this, independents won one seat.

Election Commission's new guideline: Neither will celebrate victory nor will the procession come out

Following the rebuke of the Madras High Court, the Election Commission (EC) has shown strictness regarding the Corona Protocol in election programs. The commission has given an order on the results of the five states coming on 2 May. It states that no procession will be taken out or celebrated during the counting of votes or after the results.

After the results, any candidate can go with only two people to get their winning certificate. The results of the assembly elections in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Puducherry, Assam, and West Bengal are due on 2 May.