West Bengal to vote in 8 phases over one month – Times of India

Kolkata News
KOLKATA: The model code of conduct kicked in on Friday in Bengal with the Election Commission announcing a month-long, eight-phase assembly poll schedule for the state beginning March 27 and ending April 29.
Among the other states and UT for which elections were announced, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry will have single-phase elections but Assam will vote over three days. Counting for all will be held on May 2.

The 2016 assembly elections in Bengal were held in six phases while the 2019 Lok Sabha polls were conducted in seven.
In a first, Kolkata will vote over two days — the seven south Kolkata seats on April 26 and the seven in north Kolkata on April 29. Areas adjoining the city will vote on other dates: Jadavpur on April 10 and Salt Lake-Rajarhat-New Town on April 17.
In a clear north-south divide, almost all south Bengal districts except Birbhum will vote in multiple phases, while all north Bengal districts except Malda will vote in a single day. South Bengal is considered a Trinamool stronghold.
The notification of the first phase of elections in Jangalmahal and parts of West and East Midnapore on March 27 will be released as early as Tuesday.
Explaining the rationale behind the protracted Bengal poll schedule, chief election commissioner Sunil Arora said, “These decisions are based on several local factors, including movement of forces. For example, two expenditure observers are being sent to Tamil Nadu while two police observers are being sent to Bengal.”
Two retired officers who had supervised the 2019 Lok Sabha polls in Bengal — former Bihar CEO Ajay Nayak and retired IPS officer Vivek Dubey — will be returning to the state in their old roles as special observer and special police observer. Another retired IPS officer, Mrinal Kanti Das, will be the second special police observer while B Murli Kumar, an ex-IRS officer, will be the special expenditure observer. The state’s nodal officer for law and order will work closely with the central nodal officer for Bengal to decide on the logistics, the CEC said.
Arora had a word of praise for Nayak and Dubey. Nayak had a run-in with Trinamool ahead of the LS polls when he said law-and-order in Bengal was like Bihar’s. Dubey was sent to Bengal to replace K K Sharma, against whom the ruling party had complained.
Bengal chief electoral officer, Aariz Aftab, said “a bulk of the 125 CAPF companies” for pre-poll deployment had already reached the state.
Of the 294 seats going to polls, 68 are reserved for Scheduled Castes and 16 for Scheduled Tribes. The Covid situation will also see a 31.6% rise in polling stations to 1,01,916 from the 77,413 in 2016 polls.
Watch West Bengal assembly election: Polling in 8 phases between March 27-April 29

Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/bengal-to-vote-in-8-phases-over-1-month/articleshow/81237736.cms