Kolkata [India], May. 14 : In West Bengal, local body polls are being held for seven municipal bodies today. The seats going to the polls are Darjeeling Kaliompong, Mirik and Kurseong in the hills and Domkol, Raygong and Poojani.
Strict security measures have been made to ward off any possible electoral malpractice or violence and ensure smooth conduct of elections.
In the hills, central forces have been deployed, while in the plains the state police and civic volunteers are looking after the law and order situation.
Early reports suggest that there have been minor skirmishes between supporters of different parties at a few polling centers.
The Trinamool Congress - Gorkha National Liberation Front parties are in alliance for the poll to counter the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha(GJM) in the four civic bodies of the hills.
The Jan Andolan Party (JAP) led by Harka Bahadur Chhetri had helped the TMC along with the GNLF in the 2016 Assembly election but has now decided to contest alone which could be a factor for the TMC in Kalimpong.
GJM is expected to face stiff competition from the TMC-GNLF alliance in this election. Helping the TMC-GNLF alliance will be the formation of development boards, creation of Kalimpong district and Mirik sub-division by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and exodus of senior GJM leaders.
Following is the breakdown for the polling today: Darjeeling: 32 wards Polling stations: 81 Male voters: 30709 Female voters: 32120 Total Voters: 62829 No.
of Candidates: 95 (GJM: 32, TMC: 20, GNLF: 12, JAP: 5, CPIM: 4 IND: 22) Kurseong: 20 wards Polling stations 27 Male voters: 9882 Female voters: 10866 Total Voters: 20748 No.
of Candidates: 57 (GJM: 20, TMC: 15, GNLF: 6, JAP: 6, IND: 10) Mirik: 9 wards Polling stations 10 Male voters: 4333 Female voters: 4542 Total Voters: 8875 No.
of Candidates: 34 (GJM: 9, TMC: 7, GNLF: 2, JAP: 6, IND: 10) Kalimpong: 23 wards Polling stations: 46 Male voters: 18114 Female voters: 18487 Total Voters: 36601 No.
of Candidates: 102 (GJM: 22, TMC: 19, JAP: 23, GNLF: 3, CPIM: 9, IND: 26)..
Source: ANI
