STAR REPORT

The second and final phase of the West Bengal Assembly elections will be held today in 142 constituencies, setting up a decisive contest between the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Spread across five districts -- North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, Nadia, Howrah, and Kolkata -- these seats are traditionally TMC strongholds.

For TMC, it must retain its dominance here to secure a fourth consecutive term.

The BJP will have to breach TMC’s fort in southern West Bengal and secure a major share in order to capture the throne.

In the last assembly polls in 2021, TMC won 123 of these 142 seats, BJP secured 18, and the Indian Secular Front (ISF) took one.

In the first phase this time, on April 23, voting was held in 152 of 294 constituencies across 16 districts, recording 93 percent turnout, one of the highest figures in the state’s recent election history.

Local media say those districts are largely considered BJP strongholds, though Murshidabad and Malda, dominated by religious minorities, remain TMC bastions.

In 2021, BJP had won 59 of those seats, while TMC secured 92.

Today, 3.21 crore voters will decide the fate of 1,448 candidates, including Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee, opposition leader Suvendu Adhikari, and half a dozen cabinet members.

People of West Bengal, an eastern Indian state that shares a 2,216.7 km land border with Bangladesh, The

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