Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], June 1 (ANI): CPI(M) candidate from Kolkata Dakshin constituency, where polls are underway, Saira Shah Halim lashed out at Trinamool Congress chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for "encouraging violence" on the voting day.
"Agents are everywhere. My comrades are on the battleground. We will see how Mamata Banerjee is encouraging violence here. The public will give her a reply," Halim told reporters after casting her vote at a polling booth in Kolkata.
On allegations of a tape being put over CCTV at the booth, she said, "We will have to see this. We will complain to the Election Commission immediately."
In the Kolkata Dakshin constituency, Halim is pitted against Trinamool Congress' Mala Roy and BJP's Debasri Chaudhary.
In the 2019 elections, Mala Roy emerged victorious, clinching a total of 573,119 votes and securing the seat as Member of Parliament. Chandra Kumar Bose, the candidate from the BJP, came in second with a total of 417,927 votes, trailing by 155,192 votes.
In the 2014 elections, Subrata Bakshi of the Trinamool Congress won the constituency, clinching 431,715 votes. His closest rival, Tathagata Roy of the Bharatiya Janata Party, garnered 295,376 votes.
The seventh and final phase of polling in the largest festival of democracy started on Saturday as voting started in the last 57 parliamentary constituencies at 7 am across seven states and the Union Territory of Chandigarh.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is among the 906 candidates in the fray in this phase, during which 10.06 crore electors are eligible to cast their votes.
The 57 Lok Sabha seats include 41 general category seats, three reserved for Scheduled Tribes, and 13 for Scheduled Castes.
Of the seats at stake, the BJP had bagged 25 in 2019, while the Congress won eight, and the Trinamool Congress won nine. The Biju Janata Dal won four seats and the Janata Dal (United) won three; the Bahujan Samajwadi Party, Apna Dal, and Akali Dal won two seats; and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and Aam Aadmi Party each snagged a single seat.
Over the last six phases, voting has been completed in 486 Lok Sabha seats across 28 States and Union Territories. (ANI)
