‘Why one day poll in TN with 234 seats, and over eight phases in Bengal with 294’: EC schedule raises eyebrows

Voting for five assembly elections will begin on March 27, with West Bengal having the maximum eight phases continuing till April 29, while counting of votes for the four states and one Union Territory will be done on May 2, the Election Commission of India said on Friday.

Assam assembly polls will be conducted in three phases on March 27, April 1 and April 6, while polling for the Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry assembly elections will take place in a single phase on April 6.

Elections for the West Bengal assembly will begin with polling for 30 seats on March 27, Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora said while announcing the poll schedule.

The second phase of West Bengal's assembly elections has been scheduled on April 1 and will cover 30 constituencies, followed by the third phase on April 6 for 31 seats, fourth phase on April 10 for 44 constituencies, fifth phase on April 17 for 45 seats, sixth phase for 43 seats on April 22, seventh phase on April 26 for 36 seats and last and eighth phase on April 29 for 35 seats, Arora said.

Such a protracted poll schedule for West Bengal drew criticism on social media, with users expressing the view that this may be advantageous to the BJP, which is keen to wrest the key state from TMC.

Even West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee said: “I request EC to consider West Bengal as their own state, not through the eyes of BJP”.

Here is a compilation of reactions by some users on Twitter: