Voting for the second and final phase of the West Bengal Assembly elections held with over 61% of 3.21 crore voters cast their ballots till 1 pm today (Wednesday), according to reports by Indian media.
The second phase of polling was held in West Bengal amid sporadic violence, with a key focus on the battle between Trinamool's Mamata Banerjee and BJP's Suvendu Adhikari on the Bhabanipur seat.
Tension flared up in Bhabanipur seat briefly as Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Suvendu Adhikari took swipes at one another in the same booth area.
Since 2011, the Bhabanipur seat has been a Trinamool stronghold, held by the party chief, Mamata Banerjee.
The polls are being held in 142 constituencies spread across seven districts. Of these, the Trinamool won 123 seats, the BJP 18, and the Left one in the 2021 assembly elections.
The second round is widely seen as the "litmus test" for the Trinamool Congress (TMC), as voting moves into the party's traditional fortresses in South Bengal and Kolkata.
The 142 seats that go to polls in the second phase are spread across seven districts — North 24 Parganas (33 seats), South 24 Parganas (31), Nadia (17), Howrah (16) and Kolkata (11), Hooghly (18) and Purba Bardhaman (16).
The key candidates in this phase of the election are Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari, both contesting from Bhabanipur. Ministers of the Trinamool Government, including Firhad Hakim from Kolkata Port, Aroop Biswas from Tollygunge, Shashi Panja from Shaympukur and Bratya Basu from Dum Dum, are others who will face the polls.
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