Skip to main content

Summary of First Phase of West Bengal Assembly Elections



Summary of First Phase of West Bengal Assembly Elections
By Deepak Parvatiyar
April 4, 2016
- See more at: http://www.elections.in/blog/summary-first-phase-west-bengal-assembly-elections/#sthash.kTlTQRyP.dpuf

About 80 per cent of the 40,09,000 votes were polled till 5 pm in the 18 of the 294 Assembly constituencies in the three districts of Purulia, West Midnapore and Bankura in the first phase of the six-phase elections in West Bengal on 4 April.
However, polling was less than what was registered in 2011 assembly elections as well as in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections in these constituencies. In the 2011 assembly polls, the voter turnout here was 83.72 per cent and in 2014, it was 83.39 per cent.
Total 393 companies of central forces as well as 12,000 state police personnel were deployed to ensure peaceful polling during the first phase. Significantly, 13 of these constituencies were in the naxal-affected Junglemahal area of the state and out of 4, 945 polling booths, the Election Commission had marked 1,992 as hyper sensitive. Voting ended here at 4 pm.
Polling was largely peaceful in these 18 constituencies – Nayagram, Gopiballavpur, Jhargram, Salboni, Medinipur, Binpur, Bandwan (ST), Balarampur, Baghmundi, Joypur, Purulia, Manbazar (ST), Kashipur, Para, Raghunathpur (SC), Ranibandh (ST), Raipur (ST), and Taldangra.
In all, 133 candidates including 11 women were in the fray in the first phase with Purulia assembly constituency registering the highest number of candidates (12), followed by 10 in Bandwan (ST). In all, 19 Independents were in the fray in these constituencies.
Among the political parties, the ruling Trinamool Congress as well as the Bharatiya Janata Party are contesting all the 18 seats while Left Front constituents – Communist Party of India – Marxist, Communist Party of India and All India Forward Bloc – had respectively fielded 11, 1 and 1 candidates.
The Congress Party, which was an ally of the TMC in 2011 but now have a tacit understanding with the Left Front, had fielded 5 candidates avoiding any direct clash with the Left Front at Nayagram (ST), Jhargram, Balarampur, Baghmundi, and Purulia where the contest is largely triangular between the TMC, BJP and the Congress.
Incidentally, in the last assembly elections in 2011, the TMC had won 10 of these seats –Nayagram,Gopiballavpur, Jhargram, Salboni, Medinipur, Balarampur, Purulia, Manbazar (ST), Kashipur, Raghunathpur(SC).
The Congress, then an ally of the TMC, had won the Baghmundi and Para seats while the Left Front’s CPI-M had stood victorious at five — Binpur, Bandwan (ST), Ranibandh, Raipur (ST), Taldangra.
Another Left Front constituent, the AIFB, had then won the Joypur seat. In the 2014 elections, the TMC had won the Jhargram, Purulia and Medinipur parliamentary seats.
While the poll result will show the acceptance or rejection of the Congress’s Lal Salaam, the outcome of the elections in the naxal-hit constituencies could well be the a litmus test for the TMC supremo and state chief minister Mamata Banerjee for two reasons –
a) It would test her claims of restoring peace and development in the region where she had claimed almost 500 people used to be killed before she formed her government in 2011.
Already the TMC has claimed that the high turnout in phase one “proves the silent revolution” through “massive developmental work” by Mamata Banerjee in the Junglemahal in last five years.
b) It would determine the effect of the flyover collapse outside Kolkata
Obviously the TMC’s biggest poll plank in the region was that it had succeeded in stopping the politics of bloodshed in the region.
Incidentally, the Left Front lost the grip in the region from 2009 Lok Sabha elections onwards. In 2011, the Trinamool’s vote share had leapt from 26% to 47% in West Medinipur and it was further increased to 52% as against Left Front’s 29% in 2014.
- See more at: http://www.elections.in/blog/summary-first-phase-west-bengal-assembly-elections/#sthash.kTlTQRyP.dpuf

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Summary of Second Phase of Assam and Bengal polls

Summary of Second Phase of Assam and Bengal polls By Deepak Parvatiyar http://www.elections.in/blog/summary-second-phase-assam-bengal-polls/ April 11, 2016 An FIR was filed against Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi (Congress) under Section 126 of the Representation of People’s Act at the direction of the Election Commission for violating the model code of conduct by holding a press conference in Guwahati during the second phase of polling in the state. The allegations made by Gogoi during the press conference were found unfounded by the Commission which viewed the press conference as an exercise to influence the polling. Voter Turnout in Assam State polls in Assam concluded with 82.02% of 1,04,35,277 voters turning out at the 12,699 polling stations by 5 pm, to seal the fate of 525 candidates in 61 assembly constituencies of the state. The polling percentage was much higher than the 76.05% recorded in these constituencies in 2011 state elections and the 80.21% poll...
Post a Comment
Read more

Why election manifestos are losing their value and importance in India?

Why election manifestos are losing their value and importance in India? By  Deepak Parvatiyar March 11, 2015 Much ruckus is being made on the coming together of the two diametrically opposite parties, the Jammu and Kashmir People’s Democratic Party and the  Bharatiya Janata Party , to form the government in Jammu and Kashmir. Inarguably they are two uncomfortable allies who in any given circumstances are considered ideologically misfit to join hands lest rule together. The initial jerks in the coalition have already surfaced after the J&K PDP’s mentor and new state chief minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed arbitrarily decided to release hard-line Kashmiri separatist Masarat Alam from detention, recently. This has put the BJP in the dock and it now cries foul over not being consulted on the issue. The Opposition has even forced adjournments in both the houses of Parliament over the issue demanding an explanation from the BJP-led Union Government. The BJP is ...
Post a Comment
Read more

“Bihari literature is very rich and diverse… Bihar continues to be a fertile ground for poetry and poets”

“Bihari literature is very rich and diverse… Bihar continues to be a fertile ground for poetry and poets” Poems of great Bihari poets Vidyapati, Nagarjun and Anamika figure in poet-diplomat Abhay K. Kumar's 100 Great Indian Poems Posted on  March 8, 2018  by  jagritbihar  in  Feature ,  Latest News ,  Uncategorized  // 0 Comments                                                                     Hailing from Nalanda — the home to one of the world’s earliest universities,  Abhay K. Kumar   is an Indian Foreign Service officer who at present is India’s Chargé d’affaires in Brazil. As a diplomat who is a poet at heart, he carries the legacy of Nalanda — the ancient seat of learning — in the truest sense.  Soft spoken, and euredite, his passion for poetri...
Post a Comment
Read more