Phase 4 of election in West Bengal begins

The eight-phased polls in West Bengal reaches the halfway mark as voting takes place today for the 44 seats covering Cooch Behar and Alipurduar districts in north Bengal and parts of South 24 Parganas, Howrah and Hoogly in the southern part of the state.

Union Minister Babul Supriyo, state ministers Partha Chatterjee and Arup Biswas are among the 373 candidates in the fourth phase.

Minutes after polling began, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made an appeal to eligible voters to step out and use their democratic right.

Polling began at 7am for the 44 seats in the state as part of phase 4 of the eight-phased assembly elections. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also made an appeal on Twitter to the eligible voters to come out in large numbers.

A total of 1.15 crore people, including 290 members of the third gender, are eligible to vote in the 44 constituencies spread over Howrah (Part II), South 24 Parganas (Part III), Hooghly (Part II) in south Bengal and in north Bengal’s Alipurduar and Coochbehar.