Campaign for four seats in the first phase of five-phase Lok Sabha elections in West Bengal ended on Tuesday with the Darjeeling constituency grabbing the limelight as one of the most closely fought constituencies in the state.
Apart from Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, Cooch Behar and Alipurduars constituencies would go for elections on April 17, marking the commencement of elections for 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state.
A total of 60,14,258 voters, of whom 31,14,184 are male and 29,00,024 are female, would get the opportunity to exercise their franchise in this phase of elections for the seats in North Bengal covering the Hills, Terai, Dooars and also the plains in Cooch Behar.
A total of 47 candidates are in the fray for the four constituencies, where tough fights are expected in a mainly four-cornered contest. With none of the major parties willing to give away an inch without fight, a number of top national leaders have campaigned in these constituencies.
While BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi addressed a huge rally at Siliguri, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi attended a workers' meet in the Dooars.
Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee has criss-crossed the constituencies, holding a number of rallies in favour of her party candidates.
Though the TMC has never won any of these North Bengal seats going to polls on April 17, it is banking on the good show of the 2011 Assembly elections and is making an all-out effort to open its account in this area.
Comments
0 comment