Kolkata, Jun 1 (PTI) Polling in the seventh and last phase of Lok Sabha elections to nine seats in West Bengal began at 7 am on Saturday amid tight security arrangements, an Election Commission of India (ECI) official said.
Voting in Dum Dum, Barasat, Basirhat, Jaynagar, Mathurapur, Diamond Harbour, Jadavpur, Kolkata Dakshin and Kolkata Uttar seats will continue till 6 pm, he added.
A total of 1.63 crore voters, including 83.19 lakh men, 80.20 lakh women and 538 persons of the third gender, are eligible to exercise their franchise at 17,470 polling stations.
Of the 124 candidates in the fray, Kolkata Dakshin has the highest at 17, followed by Jadavpur (16), and 15 each in Basirhat and Kolkata Uttar.
Fourteen candidates are contesting from Dum Dum, 12 each from Barasat, Diamond Harbour and Mathurapur and 11 in Jaynagar.
Several heavyweight candidates, including Trinamool Congress general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, sitting MPs Sudip Bandyopadhyay, Sougata Roy, and Mala Roy, former Union minister Debasree Chaudhuri of the BJP, and senior CPI (M) leader Sujan Chakraborty are in the fray.
The ECI has deployed 967 companies of central forces along with over 33,000 state policemen for the final phase, the official said, adding that 246 companies of central forces along with 11,000 state policemen will be deployed in Kolkata.
A total of 384 companies of central forces will be deployed in South 24 Parganas district, while 116 companies will be on duty in Basirhat, he added.
For this phase, the ECI has decided to deploy the 1,958 QRTs, the official added. PTI SCH ACD BDC
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