Voting begins for four municipal corporation in West Bengal
Voting has begun for all four municipal corporation elections in Siliguri, Bidhannagar, Chandannagar, and Asansol in West Bengal on Saturday with COVID-19 protocols in place. It started at 7 am and will continue till 5 pm. The counting will be held on February 14.
Voters have queued up outside polling booths, and thermal checking and sanitization are being done before voting. Heavy police force has been deployed at every polling booth. Naka checking is also on as well as river patrolling.
In Bidhannagar, a total of 203 candidates are contesting in 41 wards, while in Siliguri, there are 201 contestants in 47 wards. Asansol has 106 wards where 430 candidates are contesting.
There are a total of 33 wards in Chandannagar, but due to the sudden death of the BJP candidate in ward number 17, the election to that ward has been postponed. So elections are now being held in 32 wards in Chandannagar.
Siliguri has 4,02,897 voters, including 1,98,899 female, 2,03,979 male, and 18 third gender. It is the only civic body in the state which was run by the Left-Front for the last five years.
Among senior politicians, former state minister Goutam Deb of Trinamool Congress, Siliguri BJP MLA Sankar Ghosh, former Siliguri Mayor and veteran CPI-M leader Ashok Bhattacharya are contesting the polls.