Trinamool alliance to sweep West Bengal: poll

The Trinamool Congress-led alliance will oust — with a big margin — the Left Front which has ruled West Bengal for 34 continuous years, a Headlines Today-ORG post-poll survey predicted Tuesday, reports Times of India.

According to the survey, the Trinamool Congress-Congress alliance will get two-thirds majority, winning 210 to 220 seats out of a total 294 seats in the state assembly.

The survey predicts just 65 to 70 seats for the Communist Party of India-Marxist-led Left Front.

The survey gives 10 to 15 seats to independents and other parties.

The counting for the six-phased polls, which ended Tuesday, will take place on May 13.

Earlier in the day, defying a Maoist boycott and braving the scorching sun, over 83 per cent of the 26 lakh-plus electorate voted amid massive security deployment in the sixth and final phase of the West Bengal assembly elections. Voting was peaceful.

Voters, many of them tribals living in the jungle areas, lined up in long queues in front of booths from 7:00am when the polling started and by 3pm, the scheduled time for the polls to get over, 83.48 per cent of votes were cast, according to officials.

On Tuesday, polling was held in 14 constituencies of three districts – West Midnapore (7), Purulia (4) and Bankura (3) — considered the hotbed of Maoist activities.

Tuesday's polling brought to an end the staggered six-phase election for the 294-member assembly that began April 18 and covered around 70,000 polling booths spread across 19 districts over 88,752 sq km. The total electorate was over 56 million.

Three helicopters provided aerial surveillance and over 100,000 security personnel, comprising central paramilitary troopers, crack units of the state police and commandos were deployed in the region.

'Till 3:00pm, polling percentage was 83.48 per cent. Polling in West Midnapore was 85.31 per cent, Purulia 76.80 per cent and Bankura 84.50 per cent,' state chief electoral officer Sunil Gupta told media persons.

Polling ended at 3:00pm, two hours earlier than the previous rounds, to enable officials to leave the area before daylight fades.

Source: New Age

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