Bengal polls: Modi appeals to people to vote in record numbers in phase-IV

As the polling for the fourth phase of the West Bengal assembly elections has started on Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi appealed to people to cast their votes in record number.

"The fourth phase of polling has started in West Bengal. I urge today's voters for the record number of polling. I also request young and women voters to cast their votes in large numbers," Prime Minister tweeted in Bengali.

Voting for 44 constituencies in West Bengal's fourth phase Assembly elections began at 7 am on Saturday amid tight security.

This phase of the elections will witness an intense battle between 373 candidates in 44 constituencies of the state across five districts - Cooch Behar, Alipurduar, South 24 Parganas, Howrah and Hooghly.

Among the 44 constituencies, nine are in Howrah, 10 in Hooghly, 11 in South 24 Parganas, five in Alipurduar and nine in Cooch Behar.

A total of 1,15,81,022 voters will participate in this phase, out of which 2,63,016 are first-time voters. The smallest constituency is Bally with 1,76,001 electorates whereas Chunchura is the biggest constituency with 3,13,701 electorates.

The fifth phase of the assembly elections will commence on April 17. Counting of votes will take place on May 2.