West Bengal Assembly elections: Phase 7 voting date, schedule, key candidates and constituencies, Covid protocol – All you need to know

Polling for 34 seats in phase seven will take place on April 26. (PTI)

West Bengal Elections 2021: With polling over for 222 seats in six phases, the voting has entered the last leg in West Bengal. For another 34 seats, polling will be held on Monday (April 26). This will be seventh and second last phase of the West Bengal assembly election 2021. In the seventh phase, 36 seats were scheduled to go for polls but voting was deferred in two constituencies following the death of two candidates in Jangipur and Samserganj. These two seats will go to polls on May 16, and the results for these two seats will be declared on May 19.

West Bengal Election 2021: Phase 7 – Key constituencies and candidates

Balurghat: Sekhar Dasgupta (TMC) vs Ashok Lahiri (BJP) vs Sucheta Biswas (RSP)

(Ashok Kumar Lahiri is a well-known economist. He is currently serving as a member of the Fifteenth Finance Commission. He has also served as 12th Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of India. He was also the chairman of Bandhan Bank, Executive Director at the Asian Development Bank and Director of the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy. He has also worked with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.)

Bhabanipur: Sovandeb Chattopadhyay (TMC) vs Rudranil Ghosh (BJP) vs Md Shadab Khan (Congress)

Bhabanipur is one of the high-profile constituencies of West Bengal. Mamata Banerjee represented this seat since 2011. In this election, Banerjee left this seat to contest from Nandigram, where she is taking on Suvendu Adhikari of the BJP. Banerjee has fielded Sovandeb Chattopadhyay against Rudranil Ghosh of the BJP and Shadab Khan of Congress. Ghosh is a Bengali actor, and also President of West Bengal State Council of Technical and Vocational Education and Skill Development.

Ballygunge: Subrata Mukherjee (TMC) vs Loknath Chatterjee (BJP) vs Dr Fuad Halim (CPIM)

Mukherjee is currently a cabinet minister in the state government. He is incharge of panchayats and rural development. He has also held the public health engineering portfolio. Last year, he became the Mayor of Kolkata Municipal Corporation. He is pitted against Loknath Chatterjee of BJP and Dr Fuad Halim of CPIM.

Habibpur: Pradip Baskey (TMC) vs Joyel Murmu (BJP) vs Thakur Tudu (CPIM)

Murmu is the sitting MLA from Habibpur. He was elected to the assembly in 2019 byelection.

Sagardighi: Subrata Saha (TMC) vs Mafuja Khatun (BJP) vs SK Hasnuzzaman (Congress)

Mafuja Khatun is the Vice-president of the BJP West Bengal unit.

Kolkata Port: Firhad Hakim (TMC) vs Awad Kishore Gupta (BJP) vs Md Muktar (Congress)

(Firhad Hakim is sitting cabinet minister in Mamata Banerjee-led government in West Bengal. He is in-charge of f urban development and municipal affairs. He has also served as the Mayor of Kolkata.)

List of 34 Assembly Constituencies going to polls in Phase-VII

Sl No Assembly Constituency Number and Name

1. 37 – Kushmandi (SC)
2. 38 – Kumarganj
3. 39 – Balurghat
4. 40 – Tapan (ST)
5. 41 – Gangarampur (SC)
6. 42 – Harirampur
7. 43 – Habibpur (ST)
8. 44 – Gazole (SC)
9. 45 – Chanchal
10. 46 – Harischandrapur
11. 47 – Malatipur
12. 48 – Ratua
13. 55 – Farakka
14. 57 – Suti
15. 59 – Raghunathganj
16. 60 – Sagardighi
17. 61 – Lalgola
18. 62 – Bhagawangola
19. 63 – Raninagar
20. 64 – Murshidabad
21. 65 – Nabagram (SC)
22. 158 – Kolkata Port
23. 159 – Bhabanipur
24. 160 – Rashbehari
25. 161 – Ballygunge
26. 275 – Pandabeswar
27. 276 – Durgapur Purba
28. 277 – Durgapur Paschim
29. 278 – Raniganj
30. 279 – Jamuria
31. 280 – Asansol Dakshin
32. 281 – Asansol Uttar
33. 282 – Kulti
34. 283 – Barabani

West Bengal Elections 2021: Identification of Voters at Polling Stations

Aadhar Card
MNREGA Card
Bank, post office passbooks
Health Insurance Smart Card (Ministry of Labour)
Driving License
PAN Card
Smart Card issued by RGI under NPR
Passport
Pension document
Service Identity Cards (Central/State Govt./PSUs/Public Limited Companies)

West Bengal Election 2021: Covid Guidelines for safe election

– Every person shall wear a face mask during every election related activity.

– At the entry of hall/ room/ premises used for election purposes: (a) Thermal Scanning of all persons shall be carried out; (b) Sanitizer shall be made available at all locations.

– Social distancing shall be maintained as per the extant Covid-19 guidelines of the state and central governments

– As far as practicable, large halls should be identified and utilized to ensure social distancing norms.

– Adequate number of vehicles shall be mobilized for movement of polling personnel, security personnel to ensure compliance of Covid-19 guidelines.

West Bengal Election 2021: Bipolar contest between BJP and TMC

The BJP is contesting on 293 seats while it has left one seat for its alliance partner All Jharkhand Students Union headed by Ashutosh Mahto. The Trinamool Congress, on the other hand, is contesting on 290 seats while it has given three seats to Bimal Gurung’s Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM). Gurung’s party has considerable influence in hilly regions of North Bengal. The Third Front is led by the Left and Congress. The Left is fighting on 137 seats while Congress is contesting on 91 and Abbas Siddiqui’s Indian Secular Front on 28 seats. While three alliance groups are in the fray, the key fight is said to be between the BJP and TMC.