BJP’s outreach move ahead of Madarihat bypolls
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is gearing up for a 'public outreach' campaign in the Madarihat Assembly segment, as it seeks to retain the seat in an upcoming by-election.
Curtain came down at 6.30 p.m on Monday on the campaigning for 43 Assembly constituencies of West Bengal which will go to polls on 22 April in the sixth phase of elections.
In view of the rising cases of Covid-19 in the state, the Election Commission (EC) has extended the silence period from 48 hours to 72 hours in each of the remaining three phases of the Assembly polls to be held on 22, 26 and 29 April. Polling will be held between 7 am and 6.30 pm at 14,480 polling stations in 17 constituencies in North 24 Parganas district, nine each in Nadia and Uttar Dinajpur districts and eight in Purba Bardhaman district.
Altogether 306 contestants including the BJP’s national vice president Mukul Roy, senior TMC leaders and ministers Jyotipriya Mallick and Chandrima Bhattacharya, and CPI(M) leader Tanmay Bhattacharya are in the fray.
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The political fate of film director Raj Chakraborty and actress Koushani Mukherjee, who were fielded by the Trinamul Congress, will also be sealed in this phase of the election. There are more than 1.03 crore voters in these 43 constituencies, who are eligible to exercise their franchise.
The BJP’s star campaigner list included such as Prime Minister Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, party president J P Nadda and actor Mithun Chakraborty.
On the other hand, TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee, and her nephew Abhishek Banerjee led party’s campaigning for the sixth phase.
BJP to curb rallies: BJP president JP Nadda has decided that in view of the Covid crisis, all public meetings of BJP leaders henceforth in Bengal, including those of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, will not have more than 500 people.
~With inputs from PTI~
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