The Election Commission on Saturday announced the poll dates for the Lok Sabha elections in all its states and Union Territories. The voting in Phase 1 will begin on April 19 and conclude with Phase 7 on June 1. The counting of votes will take place on June 4. West Bengal, which sends 42 MPs to the Lok Sabha, will be voting in all seven phases. Uttar Pradesh and Bihar are the other two states that will witness polling in all seven phases.
Here is the detailed schedule of the Lok Sabha across the state of West Bengal:
Phase 1 (April 19): It will see the voters of Cooch Behar, Alipurduar and Jalpaiguri electing their candidates on April 19. Cooch Behar and Jalpaiguri are reserved for SC candidates, while Alipurduar is reserved for STs.
Phase 2 (April 26): The northern part of Bengal will go to polls on April 26 in the second phase, with voting in Darjeeling, Raiganj and Balurghat seats.
Phase 3 (May 7): In this third phase on May 7, Malda Uttar, Malda Dakshin, Jangipur and Murshidabad will vote.
Phase 4 (May 13): In the fourth phase, as many as eight seats will be in play. These constituencies are Baharampur, Krishnanagar, Ranaghat, Bardhaman Purba, Burdwan-Durgapur, Asansol, Bolpur and Birbhum. Of these, Ranaghat, Bolpur and Bardhaman Purba are reserved for SCs.
Phase 5 (May 20): In phase 5 of the Lok Sabha elections, the industrial belt of Bengal will go to polls. These seats are Bangaon, Barrackpur, Howrah, Uluberia, Srerampur, Hooghly and Arambagh. Bangaon and Arambagh are reserved for SC candidates.
Phase 6 (May 25): The western part of West Bengal -- Tamluk, Kanthi, Ghatal, Jhargram, Medinipur, Purulia, Bankura and Bishnupur -- will vote in the penultimate phase. Jhargram is reserved for STs, while Bishnupur is for SCs.
Phase 7 (June 1): Arguably the most important phase, it will include the capital of West Bengal, Kolkata, and its suburbs. Dum Dum, Barasat, Basirhat, Jaynagar, Mathurapur, Diamond Harbour, Jadavpur, Kolkata Dakshin and Kolkata Uttar will also vote in the last phase on June 1. Jaynagar and Mathurapur, among these, are reserved for SCs.
In 2019, West Bengal witnessed a two-way fight with the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress winning 22 of the 42 seats, while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) bagged 18. The other two seats were won by the Congress.
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