West Bengal to have five-phase Lok Sabha polls from April 17

KOLKATA: The upcoming Lok Sabha elections in West Bengal will be a five-phase one and held between April 17 and May 12 along with the bye-elections to six Assembly seats, state's Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Sunil Gupta said here today.

Elaborating the poll schedule, Gupta said the state would go to polls on April 17, 24, 30, May 7 and 12, while counting would be held on May 16 along with the entire country.

The four Lok Sabha seats Coochbehar, Alipurduar, Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling would go to the polls on April 17.

The six Lok Sabha seats Raiganj, Balurghat, Malda (North), Malda (South), Jangipur and Murshidabad would go to the polls on April 24.

The nine Lok Sabha seats Howrah, Uluberia, Sreerampur, Hooghly, Arambagh, Burdwan (East), Burdwan-Durgapur, Bolpur and Birbhum would go to the polls on April 30.

The six Lok Sabha Seats Jhargram, Midnapore, Purulia, Bankura, Bishnupur and Asansol would go to the polls on May 7.

Finally, the 17 Lok Sabha seats including Baharampur, Krishnagar, Ranaghat, Bongaon, Barrackpur, Dum Dum, Barasat, Basirhat, Joynagar, Mathurapur, Diamond Harbour, Jadavpur, Kolkata (South), Kolkata (North), Tamluk, Contai and Ghatal would go to the polls on May 12.

While the bye-elections in Kumargram and Moynaguri Assembly segments would be held on April 17, Galsi Assembly seat would go to the bye-elections on April 30.

Bye-elections in Kotulpur Assembly seat would be held on May 7, while Santipur and Chakdaha Assembly seats would go to the bye-elections on May 12, the CEO said.