India News | Campaigning Ends for First Phase of Polling in Three Bengal LS Seats

Kolkata, Apr 17 (PTI) Campaigning for three Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal - Cooch Behar (SC), Jalpaiguri (SC) and Alipurduars (ST) - going to polls in the first phase on April 19 came to an end at 6 PM on Wednesday.

Woes of the tea garden workers and recognition of the Rajbanshis are among the common key issues in the three seats.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee held public rallies in support of their respective party candidates.

In the first phase, a total of 56,26,108 voters - 28,62,494 men, 27,63,506 women and 108 third-gender - are eligible to exercise their franchise in 5,814 booths.

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Altogether 14 candidates, including sitting MP and Union minister Nisith Pramanik, are contesting the parliamentary elections from Cooch Behar.

The TMC has fielded Jagadish Chandra Burma Basunia from the seat, while the Forward Bloc nominated Nitish Chandra Roy and the Congress named Pia Roy Chowdhury.

All candidates barring Chowdhury belong to the Rajbongshi community.

Twelve candidates are in the fray in Jalpaiguri with the TMC fielding Nirmal Chandra Roy, BJP nominating Dr Jayanta Kumar Roy and CPI(M) Debraj Barman.

In Alipurduar, there are 11 candidates including Prakash Chik Baraik of the TMC, BJP's Manoj Tigga and Mili Oraon of the RSP.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)