The campaign heat for West Bengal assembly elections finally died down on Saturday as six northern districts go to the fifth and last phase of polling on May 8.
As the political parties remained busy campaigning elsewhere in a marathon poll schedule, electioneering in north Bengal found a late burst in momentum after the fourth phase polls on May 3 to reach its crescendo on the last two days.
A total of 8,16, 4210 voters, including 3,89,7456 women, will exercise their franchise in 49 constituencies across Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, Cooch Behar, north and south Dinajpur and Malda districts.
Put at stake are the fates of 306 candidates, including seven ministers.
Prominent among the aspirants are Muncipal Affairs Minister Ashok Bhattacharya, Forest Minister Jogesh Burman, Relief Minister Hafiz Alam Sairani, Jail Affairs Minister Biswanth Choudhury, Civil Defence Minister Srikumar Mukherjee, Food Processing Minister Sailen Sarkar and Minister of State for PWD Dasarath Tirkey -- all seeking re-election as Left Front nominees.
Former minister Narayan Biswas, who was made to surrender by his party, Communist Party of India-Marxist, in connection with a murder case, Ruby Noor, sister of departed Congress leader A B A Ghani Khan Chowdhury, Union Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunshi's wife Deepa Dasmunshi and state Agriculture Minister Kamal Guha's son Udayan Guha are the other contestants drawing attention.
Lying between Bangladesh on the east and Bihar on the west, the region that stretches from the hilly areas of Darjeeling down to the Gangetic plains of Malda, has strategic importance also having border with Nepal in the north-west, Sikkim in the north and Bhutan in the north-east.
Negligence and under development, unemployment, the beleagured tea industry, the separatist movement for a Greater Coochbehar and the Ganga erosion were the major issues that flew high in the campaign.
As Congress president Sonia Gandhi was the star campaigner for her party having addressed two election meetings at Kaliachak and Malda, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya spearheaded electioneersing for the Left candidates in a whirlwind schedule in the last few days. Matching his tight itinerary was Trinamool Congress chief Mamta Banerjee and West Bengal Pradesh Congress president Pranab Mukherjee.
While development was the main plank for the Left campaigners, it was the other way round for the opposition leaders.
The chief minister highlighted his government's success in boosting the marketing of mango and vegetables, grown in the region.
He also promised implementation of a bigger programme for improvement of agriculture and industry and development of roadways and air connectivity.
On the other hand, Mamta Banerjee and Mukherjee harped on the long standing negligence of north Bengal, its overall backwardness and the plight of tea garden workers following acquistion of garden areas for industry and housing.
While the CPI-M has put candidates in 28 seats, Left Front partners All India Forward Bloc, Revolutionary Socialist Party and the CPI have fielded nominees in nine, eight and three constituencies respectively.
The Congress has candidates in 44 seats, Trinamool Congress in 35 and the Bharatiya Janata Party in 12 seats while the Nationalist Congress Party has stake in one seat.
Other registered parties, including Gorkha National Liberation Front, which has sway in the Darjeeling hills, have put candidates in 37 constituencies.
Siliguri in the Darjeeling plains is the largest assembly constituency with 27,0339 electors while Manikchak of Malda is the smallest having only 13,5573 voters.
The highest polling station in the state and the third highest in the country is Srikhola under Darjeeling assembly constituency. This polling station in remote Srikhola, a small hamlet at an altitude of 11,000 feet, is just below Sandhakphu, the famous trekking spot in the Singhalila range.
A maximum number of eleven candidates are in fray in Raiganj in south Dinajpur while Kumargram (ST), Chopra and Islampur have only three nominees, each fighting with one another.
There are altogether 9,089 polling booths and 1,097 electronic voting machines have been installed for polling.
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