Campaign ends for third phase of Lok Sabha polls in Bengal

High-octane campaigning by political parties, including roadshows and speeches by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP chief Amit Shah and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, for the third phase of Lok Sabha elections in West Bengal on April 23, concluded on Sunday.

The constituencies which go to polls on Tuesday are Balurghat, Malda North, Malda South, Jangipur and Murshidabad.

All the five seats will see a four-cornered contest between the Trinamool Congress (TMC), the BJP, the Congress and the Left Front.

An electorate of 8,023,852 will decide the fate of 61 candidates in these parliamentary constituencies.

The TMC has fielded sitting MP Arpita Ghosh against BJP's Sukanta Majumdar in Balurghat. The CPI(M) has nominated no candidate, while the Congress has named Sadik Sarkar.

In Malda North, the TMC has named former Congress MP Mausam Noor against BJP's Khagen Murmu, the Congress has nominated Isha Khan Chowdhury and the CPI(M) Biswanath Ghosh.

Malda South will see the ruling party's Moazzem Hossain locking horns with BJP's Sreerupa Mitra Choudhury. Congress's Abu Hasem Khan Chowdhury is also in the fray.

In Jangipur, TMC's Khalilur Rehman will contest against former president and Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee's son Abhijit. The BJP has fielded Mafuja Khatun and the CPI(M) Zulfikar Ali.

Abu Taher Khan is the TMC candidate from Murshidabad against BJP's Humayun Kabir. The Congress has nominated Abu Hena and the CPI(M) named Badruddaza Khan for the seat.

The Election Commission will deploy a total of 324 companies of central forces, which will cover over 92 per cent of the polling booths in the five Lok Sabha constituencies, to ensure free and fair polling, officials said.

The polling personnel have already left for 1,530 booths in Balurghat constituency, 1,713 in Malda North, 1,616 in Malda South, 1,762 in Jangipur and 1,907 stations in Murshidabad.

Besides general election observers and expenditure observers, the poll panel has for the first time deployed a special police observer.

In another first, VVPAT will be used in all polling booths along with the EVMs, EC sources said.