Last phase of West Bengal assembly polls begins

Cooch behar: Voting for the sixth and final phase of West Bengal assembly elections begins amid tight security. Under this phase, 25 seats including 16 in Purba Medinipur and nine in Coochbehar districts will go to polls. In all, 67 candidates are in the fray for nine seats in Coochbehar, 12 of them independents. In Purba Medinipur, a total of 103 candidates are vying for 16 seats including 12 independents. In today's polling, over 58 lakh voters will decide the political future of 170 candidates, including 18 women. 6,774 polling stations have been setup for the purpose. The voters include over 9,500 new Indian citizens who have been enrolled in five constituencies in Coochbehar for the first time ever. They are the residents of 51 former Indo-Bangladesh enclaves, locally known as Sabeki Chheetmahal. The Election Commission has arranged strict security measures for the final day of voting. In all, 361 companies of the central security forces have been deployed in both the districts. In Purba Medinipur 7,500 State Police personnel and in Coochbehar 4,500 policemen have been deployed to assist the Central forces. At a primary school polling station at Shankarpur in Purba Medinipur, the search parties earlier recovered a bag full of country-made bombs causing tension in the area. The Commission has decided to deploy 76 flying squads, 93 RT mobile teams and 28 mobile camera vans to ensure free and fair polls in both the districts. The Commission has taken special measures for differently-abled voters at all the 4,298 polling stations in Purba Medinipur district. With the help of NGOs, arrangement of wheel chairs and ramps have been made at each booth. The Commission has made the arrangements following its finding that the district has 15,500 differently-abled voters, the highest 1,612 in Panshkura Paschim constituency. Brail facility will be available to the voters having sight problems.