Second phase of West Bengal polls across 142 constituencies begins today

New Delhi: Polling for the second (final) phase of the West Bengal Assembly elections is scheduled for Wednesday, with voting taking place in 142 constituencies across six districts and the state capital, Kolkata, amid heavy security.

Polling parties were deployed to their various polling stations earlier on Tuesday, carrying EVMs, VVPATs, and other polling materials for the state's final phase of voting.

The total number of registered electors in these 142 Assembly constituencies, as per the records of the Election Commission of India (ECI) is 3,21,73,837, which is nearly 64 per cent of the total population of 5,00,13,786 in all those Assembly constituencies, IANS reported.

Of the 3,21,73,837 registered electors, 1,64,35,627 are male voters, 1,57,37,418 are female voters, and 792 are third gender voters.

Electors Photo Identity Cards (EPICs) have been provided to all the 3,21,73,837 registered electors, as per the information passed on by the office of the West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer (CEO).

The number of voters aged 100 years or above is 3,243, while the number of voters aged 85 or above is 1,96,801. There are a total of 146 Non-Resident Indian (NRI) voters, and 39,961 are service voters.

A total of 1,448 candidates are in the fray for these 142 Assembly constituencies, which will go to the polls in the second phase on Wednesday.

The number of male candidates is 1,228, while the number of female candidates is 220. There is not a single third gender candidate.

Of the 142 Assembly constituencies going for polls on Wednesday, 107 are in the general category, while 34 constituencies are reserved for the Scheduled Caste (SC) and one reserved for the Scheduled Tribe (ST).

Bhangar in South 24 Parganas district has the highest number of candidates at 15, while Hooghly district has the least number of candidates at five.

Besides the state capital of Kolkata, the other six districts where these 142 Assembly constituencies are scattered over are Nadia, East Burdwan, Hooghly, South 24 Parganas, North 24 Parganas and Howrah.

In terms of area, Jorasanko Assembly constituency in Kolkata is the smallest Assembly constituency, covering just 3.48 square kilometres, while Kalyani in Nadia district is the largest, covering 135 square kilometres.

Bhatpara in the North 24 Parganas district, has the fewest electors at 1,17,195, while Chuchura in the Hooghly district has the most at 2,75,715.

Of the 142 Assembly constituencies going to the polls on Wednesday, only six have voters between one lakh and 1.5 lakh, 17 have between 1.5 lakh and two lakh, while in the remaining 120 constituencies, the number of voters exceeds 2 lakh.

The total number of polling stations in the second phase is 41,001, of which 39,301 are main polling stations, and 1,700 are auxiliary polling stations.

The second phase of the Assembly polls will be conducted under unprecedented security cover, with the deployment of 2,407 companies of central forces, including Central Armed Police Forces, the India Reserve Battalion, and personnel from armed police wings of other states, in addition to personnel from West Bengal Police and Kolkata Police.

There will be webcasting at all polling stations. The results will be declared on May 4.