WB polls: voting on in North Bengal

Kolkata: Polling began at 7 AM on Monday for 54 seats in North Bengal in the first of the six-phase Assembly elections. Voting is taking place in the six districts of Cooch Behar, North Dinajpur, South Dinajpur, Jalpaiguri, Darjeeling and Malda.

Nearly 15 per cent polling has been recorded till 11 AM. An estimated 97.4 lakh people are expected to vote which will decide the fate of 364 candidates.

Trinamool Congress President Mamata Banerjee has promised to turn the hills of North Bengal into Switzerland if she wins the elections.

The elections are taking place under tight security. All polling booths are being manned by central paramilitary forces.

It is going to be a make-or-break battle for the Left Front as the Trinamool Congress-Congress alliance is making an historic bid to wrest power in the state after 34 years.

But identity politics will play a major role in this election and is clearly the deciding factor in the hills of Darjeeling and in the plains of Dooars, while elsewhere it's a fight between the Left and its Opposition for political supremacy.

Trinamool ally SUCI is yet another thorn for the Congress. It is fighting the Congress in nine seats in Monday's first phase.

Trinamool and Congress are sharing 27 seats each amongst themselves across six districts of North Bengal that also covers the Gorkha population of the hills.

The Gorkha Janamukti Morcha is contesting from four seats for the first time, while in the plains of Dooars, the Adivasi Vikas Parishad is contesting in five seats. Both these parties are likely to dent the seat share of the Left and also the TMC-Congress combine.

“We are contesting elections to raise the issue of Gorkhaland in Assembly. It doesn't matter if we have three MLAs. This is our struggle. We will discuss the future of Gorkhaland whoever comes to power. Mamata, if she comes to power, has to listen to our demands,” says Gorkha Janamukti Morcha chief Bimal Gurung.

But it's the outcome of the bare-knuckle fight between the Left and the Congress-Trinamool combine to penetrate each other's territories that would decide who wins round one.

Some of the important political figures whose fortunes will be decided on Monday include 10 ministers of the Left Front government, including urban development minister Ashok Bhattacharya (Communist Party of India-Marxist), PWD minister Kshiti Goswami, jail and social welfare minister Biswanath Chowdhury (both belonging to Revolutionary Socialist Party), Congress leader Debaprasad Roy and Trinamool Congress Darjeeling district president Gautam Deb.

The battle for north Bengal is the prelude to what Bengal would witness in the remaining five phases. The region has polarised Left and Congress pockets and belts that are dominated by ethnic groups.

The six-phase election is scheduled to be held between April 18 and May 10. Counting for votes will take place on May 13.