West Bengal Elections: 34 assembly constituencies spread across 5 districts are voting. (File)
Bengal is voting for the 7th time today in the longest ever assembly election any state has seen, that too in the middle of the second wave of a pandemic that many are calling a tsunami. More than three lakh infections on a single day have been reported in the country.
In Bengal, in the last 24 hours, 15,889 new cases have been reported - the highest spike in the state ever. 57 have died.
In normal times, this phase - with 36 seats - would have been one of the most exciting, with high-profile ministers, film stars, fashion designers, so-called Trinamool Congress to BJP turncoats, student leaders and even a General (retired) in the race.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee would have been fighting the polls today at Bhabanipur in South Kolkata if she had not shifted to Nandigram. Here, her power minister, 80-year-old Shobhandeb Chattopadhyay, is facing Rudranil Ghosh, an actor who was once the apple of Ms Banerjee's eye.
Three other prestige seats in South Kolkata will be decided today. Rashbehari has a senior Trinamool councillor, Debashish Kumar, fighting an assembly poll for the first time against Lt General (retired) Subrata Saha.
At Ballygunge next door, one of Ms Banerjee's senior-most ministers for panchayat, Subrata Mukherjee, is facing off against BJP's Lokenath Chatterjee and the CPM's high-profile doctor candidate Fuad Halim.
At Kolkata Port, the fate of the city's outgoing mayor and urban affairs minister Firhad Hakim will be decided.
Out in the districts, all eyes are on Jamuria in West Bardhaman where SFI leader Aishee Ghosh from JNU is deputing as the CPM candidate against comparative challengers.
The glamour quotient is to be found at Asansol South where actor and outspoken BJP critic Sayani Ghosh is fighting fashion designer and BJP's Mahila morcha chief Agnimitra Paul.
This phase includes Malda and Murshidabad, districts traditionally dominated by Congress, where BJP and Trinamool are trying to grab a big slice of seats. They were locked neck and neck in 2019 general election when Trinamool got 36.8 per cent votes and BJP 37 per cent. And both had led in the exact number of seats - 16 each.
All eyes will also be on the voter turnout. In 2019, the turnout was 79.9 per cent. But given the way the virus is raging across Kolkata and the districts, will the voters brave the virus? Kolkata reported 3,779 new infections yesterday, the highest number ever, and 18 people lost their lives.