Summary of Fourth Phase of West Bengal Assembly Election 2016

Summary of Fourth Phase of West Bengal Assembly Election 2016

By Deepak Parvatiyar

April 25, 2016

- See more at: http://www.elections.in/blog/summary-of-fourth-phase-of-bengal-assembly-polls/#sthash.tV3dcMHS.dpuf

The just concluded fourth round of polling in West Bengal on 25 April is crucial to the fortunes of the ruling Trinamool Congress. The results of the elections in the TMC’s citadel – Howrah and North 24 Parganas districts – will determine the extent of damage of the flyover collapse in Kolkata on 31 March in which scores of people had died. Ever since then, the issue of ‘Syndicate Raj’ and builder-mafia-government nexus have been raised by the opposition parties in this election.
This fourth round will also test the impact of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s election rally in this region during the second round of polling. Polling in this phase also took place in parts of the Sundarbans delta where man-animal conflicts along with climate change are big issues.

Voting Percentage in Fourth Phase of West Bengal Polls

By 5 pm, 78.05% of total 1.08 crore voters had exercised their right to vote in the 49 assembly constituencies (33 in North 24 Parganas and 16 in Howrah districts) that went to polls in the fourth phase. The figure, though, was less than the figures of 83.81% in 2011 assembly elections as well as 81.49% in 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Fate of 345 candidates including 40 female candidates is now sealed in the ballot box in this round of polling.

Important Candidates Whose Fate was decided

The candidates included a number of state ministers: Amit Mitra (Khardaha, Aroop Roy (Howrah Central), Bratya Basu (Dum Dum), Chandrima Bhattacharya (Dum Dum North), Jyotipriyo Mullick (Habra), Purnendu Basu (Rajarhat-Gopalpur) and Rajib Bandopadhyay (Domjur). Yet another TMC leader and former state transport and sports minister Madan Mitra, was in the fray from Kamarhati seat in North 24 Parganas district even as he is lodged in Alipore jail in the multi-crore Saradha chit fund scam case.
Polling was largely peaceful despite sporadic incidents of violence. Tanmay Bhattacharya, CPI-M candidate from North Dumdum constituency of North 24 Parganas district alleged that he was attacked by TMC supporters. Besides, an FIR was also registered against the BJP leader Roopa Ganguly, when she was caught on TV cameras pushing a lady outside a booth at Bamangachi. Police said that over 230 persons were arrested in different poll-related incidents like violation of Section 144 and intimidation of voters in North 24-Parganas district. The Election Commission had ordered deployment of around 90,000 personnel in the two poll-bound districts.

Prospect of TMC

The TMC’s hopes of returning to power much depend on the outcome of the fourth round of polling in what is considered its bastion. While it had won 43 seats from here in 2011 state assembly elections, in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, it had led in 44 of the 49 assembly constituencies in these districts.
However, in 2014, its vote share had gone down to 43.6% from 51% in 2011. Despite that, it was still far ahead of the Left Front’s 39% in 2011 and 29.1% in 2014. The Congress, which was an ally of the TMC in 2011, then had a vote share of just 2.3 per cent. Whether the Congress can gain by its understanding with the Left Front this time is to be seen.

- See more at: http://www.elections.in/blog/summary-of-fourth-phase-of-bengal-assembly-polls/#sthash.tV3dcMHS.dpuf