West Bengal goes to the polls for the sixth round

While nine out of the 43 ACs are located in the Uttar Dinajpur district of North Bengal, the remaining 34 are in the South Bengal districts of North 24 Parganas, Nadia and Purba Bardhaman.

More than 10 million voters in West Bengal are set to vote on Thursday as 43 assembly constituencies (ACs) in the state goes to the polls in the sixth phase of the contest. The ACs voting in this phase are spread across two sub-regions of the state. While nine out of the 43 ACs are located in the Uttar Dinajpur district of North Bengal, the remaining 34 are in the South Bengal districts of North 24 Parganas, Nadia and Purba Bardhaman.

The All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) had won 24 out of these 43 ACs in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. (HT_PRINT)

Close contest on cards

The All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) had won 24 out of these 43 ACs in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won all the remaining 19 ACs. The 2019 results were a drastic realignment compared to the 2016 assembly elections, when the TMC won 32 of these 43 ACs, the Left-Congress alliance won 11 and the BJP did not win any.

Political realignment to play key role

There is also a regional angle to the political realignment between 2016 and 2019 in these ACs. While the TMC was behind the BJP in all but south and central Bengal sub-region (comprising 10 out of the 19 districts in the state at the time of the 2011 Census), it was actually ahead of the BJP in the Uttar Dinajpur district. In the three districts of south Bengal, parts of which have already voted on April 17 and the rest are voting today, the BJP’s rise between 2016 and 2019 has been largely at the cost of the Left-Congress support, when seen in terms of vote share.

Contrasting demographics

There is also a vast difference in the demographics of the districts voting today. The south Bengal districts are among the richest and the most urban districts of the state while Uttar Dinajpur is among the poorest and the most rural districts in the state. Uttar Dinajpur is also one of the only three districts in the state where Muslims outnumbered Hindus, according to the 2011 Census.