High-decibel campaign for crucial penultimate phase ends

Amit Shah during his campaign said that 'voting for one seat in Bengal can change the whole state,' referring to Bhowanipore constituency

Campaigning for the high-stake fifth phase Assembly poll in West Bengal, in which a galaxy of heavyweights including Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee are in fray, ended this evening.

As many as 349 candidates, including 43 women, are in the fray in over 53 constituencies in South 24 Parganas, Kolkata South and Hooghly districts going to the poll on Saturday.

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Polling will be held from 7 am to 6 pm at over 14,500 booths for the 1.2 crore electorate.

All eyes are glued on the Bhawanipur constituency in south Kolkata where Trinamool Congress chairperson and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is pitted against former Union minister Deepa Dasmunshi (Congress) and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's grand nephew Chandra Kumar Bose (BJP).

The importance of the star-studded fight is underlined by BJP president Amit Shah when he during his campaign said that "voting for one seat in Bengal can change the whole state".

Shah also appealed for votes in the name of Netaji, saying, "This is your opportunity to pay tribute to Netaji".

Hogging the limelight will be another constituency - Singur which in the 2011 Assembly election along with Nandigram had set the stage for the Trinamool Congress's spectacular ascension to power.

Five years down the line, land acquisition and industrialisation are still the focus in the constituency, where the bare structure of the Tatar Motors small car factory presented a surrealistic sight precipitating Bengal's industrial decline.

The Congress and Left which have formed an alliance to stop the Trinamool Congress juggernaut exhibited a rare show of bonhomie when Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi shared the stage with veteran CPI(M) leader and former chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee in a joint election rally.

The other important candidates in fray in this phase include Panchayat minister Subrata Mukherjee, Education minister Partha Chatterjee, Housing and Youth Affairs minister Aroop Biswas, Power minister Manish Gupta, Fire Service and Disaster Management minister Javed Ahmed Khan and Urban Development minister Firhad Hakim.

Kolkata Mayor and sitting MLA Sovan Chatterjee, is fighting from Behala East constituency, adjoining the city.
Star candidates in this phase include singer Indranil

Sen and Indian midfielder Nabi, who has been the skipper of Indian Super League side Mumbai City Football Club.

In Raidighi, part of the Sundarbans delta, CPI-M veteran and former West Bengal minister Kanti Ganguly is fighting against sitting Trinamool Congress MLA and actress Debashree Roy.

From Kakdwip, Sundarbans Development minister Manturam Pakhira is defending his seat.

The Sundarbans archipelago has been hit hard by climate change and islanders are yet to fully recover from the trail of disaster left by the 2007 cyclonic storm Aila.

Abdur Razzak Mollah, who courted controversy for allegedly using derogatory language against actress-turned-BJP leader Roopa Ganguly is the Trinamool Congress candidate from Bhangar seat in South 24 Parganas district.

An FIR has also been filed against him as per the instructions of the Election Commission.

During electioneering, Congress president Sonia Gandhi alleged that just like Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Mamata Banerjee is also a "threat" to democracy and pluralism.

She claimed that both of them have the "habit" of blaming previous regimes for things not done.

Banerjee, on the other hand, has been critical of both Modi and Sonia alleging they are spreading "canards" against her.

She went on to say that the Saradha chit fund scam and the Narada sting operation are "conspiracies hatched by the Congress, CPI-M and BJP".