Silence period in Nandigram; Mamata campaigns in other parts of Bengal, Suvendu meets party workers

It was a day of 'silence period' in Nandigram and other 29 seats going to the polls in the second phase of West Bengal elections and for most candidates, it was time to catch up with some rest and take care of logistics for the polling day.

For Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, however, it was another day of campaigning. The lead campaigner of Trinamool Congress held election rallies in Hooghly and Howrah districts to boost the party's prospects in eight-phased assembly polls.

Nandigram is a prestigious battle as Mamata Banerjee has taken on her former ministerial colleague Suvendu Adhikari, who joined the BJP in December last year.

While Banerjee campaigned in other parts of the state, Suvendu Adhikari met with his party workers and discussed logistics for polling day on April 1.

The two former IPS officers contesting from Debra assembly seat also took care of poll day logistics and met workers of their parties.

BJP has fielded former Indian Police Service officer Bharati Ghosh from the seat against Trinamool Congress's Humayun Kabir, who is also an ex-IPS officer.

Ghosh was once seen to be close to Mamata Banerjee and had joined the BJP in 2019 ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

BJP candidate from Bankura constituency Subhash Sarkar used the day to get the second dose COVID-19 vaccine.

A total of 30 assembly constituencies in South 24 Parganas, Bankura, Paschim Medinipur and Purba Medinipur will go to polls in the second phase of polling which will decide the electoral fate of 171 candidates. There are 19 women candidates.

Actor-turned-politicians in the fray in the second phase of polling include Soham Chakraborty and Sayantika Banerjee contesting for Chandipur and Bankura respectively from TMC and Hiranmoy Chattopadhyay contesting from Kharagpur Sadar in Paschim Medinipur as BJP candidate.

The silence period normally begins 48 hours before the voting day and ends after the conclusion of polling. It stipulates that there should not be any direct or indirect reference amounting to soliciting support for parties or candidates in the constituencies observing the silence period.

During the silence period, star campaigners and other political leaders are required to refrain from addressing the media by way of press conferences and giving interviews on election matters.

( With inputs from ANI )