Click to play videoNew Delhi: Four more southern districts of West Bengal go to the polls on Saturday in the second round of staggered Assembly elections and the ruling Left Front hopes to win hands down.
Of the total 294 constituencies, the second phase would involve 66 in Howrah, Hooghly, East Midnapore and Murshidabad districts.
Close to 11.2 million voters will decide the fate of 348 candidates, including 28 women. Shibpur in Howrah is the largest constituency with 269,646 voters.
CPI-M's Lagan Deo Singh is one of the key contestants in North Howrah. While Pratim Chatterjee of the Marxist communist party is contesting from Tarakeshwar in Hoogly.
Trinamool Congress' Sushil Biswas is seeking election from Krishnaganj in Nadia district.
While Prabodh Chandra Sinha of the Democratic socialist party and Trinamool Congress' Shishir Adhikary are battling it out in east Midnapore's Egra.
Ambika Banerjee, the Trinamool candidate who has won from Howrah Central five times, alleged that the Left had treated the district shabbily.
But of late Howrah has been in the limelight with upcoming projects like a food processing park, an IT hub and a motorbike factory by the Indonesian giant Salem besides a modern township by the same group.
Hooghly district, adjoining Howrah, too faces similar industrial sickness. In Nadia district, illegal migration of Bangladeshis is a major problem and an election issue.
Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharya hit the campaign trail in Nadia on Wednesday and attacked both the Congress and the Trinamool Congress with virulence.
Hoping that there would be huge turnouts in the second phase, he called the Congress "the party of the rich" and accused the Trinamool of aligning with the Hindu rightwing.
Around 56,000 central paramilitary forces, in addition to 12,000 state police forces have been deployed in the state.
At least two Election Commission observers will monitor every constituency.
Also 3,000 digital cameras have been installed inside polling booths to prevent electoral malpractice.
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