Parties Hit Streets To Woo Voters Ahead Of Bengal Polls

Kolkata: All political parties made most of the Sunday as the ruling Trinamool Congress and the opposition Left Front took to the streets to woo voters in the poll-bound Bengal.

Ms Banerjee, walked a seven km stretch from Joka to Behala in the southern fringe of the metropolis in the afternoon in support of party candidates Partha Chatterjee, a Cabinet minister, and city mayor Sobhan Chatterjee, who are sitting MLAs from Behala West and Behala East respectively.

Thousands of party workers and supporters joined the procession through the arterial Diamond Harbour Road, as residents crowded the footpaths and others tried to catch a glimpse of the Trinamool supremo from balconies and rooftops.

With it being the second Sunday after the six-phase elections were announced in West Bengal by the Election Commission, several leaders tried to make the most of it in different parts of the state.

Ministers Firhad Hakim, Chandrima Bhattacharya, cricketer Lakshmi Ratan Shukla, who has been fielded by Trinamool from Howrah North Assembly seat, were seen walking through lanes and bylanes in their constituencies.

Opposition Left Front candidates Anjan Bera, former Lok Sabha MP Sujan Chakraborti, who has been fielded by the CPI(M) from Jadavpur in place of former chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, were seen interacting with people in markets and residential localities.

Mr Bhattacharya had lost in the 2011 Assembly elections to Manish Gupta, the Power Minister in the Mamata Banerjee Cabinet, who has been fielded from the same seat again.

The other two major opposition parties in the state -- Congress and BJP, however, could do little today. While the Congress, which is going for a seat-sharing arrangement with the Left Front, has not yet announced candidates for any seat, the BJP has announced the names of candidates in 52 out of 294 seats for the Assembly polls, scheduled to commence from April four.