Kolkata, May 5 (Agencies): Voting is being held in 25 constituencies in East Midnapore and Cooch Behar districts of West Bengal today in the sixth and final phase of assembly elections in the state.
An electorate of over 58 lakh is eligible to cast their ballots at 6,774 polling stations between 7 AM to 6 PM. In all, 170 candidates, including 18 women, are contesting in the last phase.
A total of 9776 voters, including a 103-year-old man, residing in the enclaves in Cooch Behar district will vote for the first time today.These voters live in over 50 enclaves India got in exchange from Bangladesh on July 31, 2015 and became Indian citizens the same day, after decades of not being counted on either side.
Out of the total electors, 27.8 lakh are females while the third gender is a small minority of 68 voters.
There is tight security across the two districts - the poll panel has deployed 361 companies of central forces who are assisted by a contingent of 12,000 state police personnel.
Hitting out at the Centre for creating "an emergency type situation" during the Assembly polls, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has alleged that the central forces are trying to intimidate voters.
"The Central forces have created a havoc. In the name of conducting polls they have created an emergency like situation. They have stopped voters, heckled handicapped voters, misbehaved with candidates of our parties," she said, adding that she was "ashamed" to witness the "most scandalous and malicious" poll campaign in the history of Bengal politics.
A day before voting, both the Trinamool Congress and the Left-Congress alliance sounded confident of forming the next government. Senior Trinamool leader Mukul Roy rubbished speculation of his party doing badly in the poll, saying he was "relaxed", while CPI-M state secretary Surjya Kanta Mishra said the state would witness a 'parivartan' (change).
The Trinamool Congress, which had won all 16 seats in East Midnapore district in 2011, has now fielded its Tamluk MP Suvendu Adhikari from Nandigram. He is pitted against CPI's Abdul Kabir Sheikh, supported by the Congress-Left alliance.
State Environment Minister Sudarshan Ghosh Dastidar is another heavyweight contesting in this phase. He is seeking to defend his Mahisadal seat. Former Trinamool minister Hiten Barman is trying his luck once again from Sitalkuchi seat.