2016 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election
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All 294 seats in the West Bengal state assembly | |||||||||||||||||||||
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A legislative assembly election will be held in 2016 for the 294 seats of the Vidhan Sabha in the state of West Bengal in India. Like in 2011, the polls will be held in six phases. The first phase, to be held in Naxal-affected areas, will have two polling dates — April 4 and April 11. The other phases will be held on April 17, 21, 25, 30 and May 5. In the previous election in 2011, the All India Trinamool Congress, under the leadership of Mamata Banerjee, won a majority and ended the 34-year rule of the Left Front government.
Background
Prior to the West Bengal elections, on 3 January 2016, a Muslim mob turned violent and vandalized Kaliachak Police station, block development office and public property in Kaliachak, Malda district.[1][2] Mamata Banerjee's government was severely criticised for not handling the situation better.[3][4][5]
In January 2016, the Election Commission of India urged the central government to allow it to carry out a limited delimitation exercise in West Bengal to ensure voting rights to people who came to India following the exchange of enclaves between India and Bangladesh.[6] It is speculated that the BJP will field more Muslim candidates in Bengal elections this time.[7] As per updated voter list for the year 2016 published by the Election Commission of India in January 2016, West Bengal has surpassed the rest of the country in elector-population ratio with 0.68. The final electoral roll in West Bengal for 2016 with 6.55 crore voters has 3.39 crore male and 3.16 crore female voters. [8]
Religion data
As of 2011 census, Hinduism is the religion in West Bengal followed by 70.54% of the total population,[10] while Muslims comprise 27.01% of the total population, being the second-largest community as also the largest minority group.[11] Sikhism, Christianity, Buddhism and other religions make up the remainder.[12] Buddhism remains a prominent religion in the Himalayan region of the Darjeeling hills, and almost the entirety of West Bengal's Buddhist population are from this region.
Schedule
Assembly elections in West Bengal, are likely to be held sometime in April-May 2016.[13]
On 4 March 2016, Election Commission of India announced that 22 assembly constituencies in West Bengal will have Voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) machines attached along with EVMs. Voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) machines will be in place in more than 5,000 booths.
| Assembly constituencies of West Bengal having VVPAT facility with EVMs[14] | ||
|---|---|---|
| CoochBehar Dakshin | Alipurduar | Jalpaiguri (SC) |
| Siliguri | Raiganj | Balurghat |
| Englishbazar | Murshidabad | Krishnanagar |
| Barasat | Jadavpur | Ballygunge |
| Chowrangee | Howrahmadhya | Chandannagore |
| Tamluk | Medinipur | Purulia |
| Bankura | Bardhman | Behala Paschim |
| Suri | ||
Parties and alliances
Left Front leaders hinted at a Left-Congress alliance in the assembly polls scheduled for next year, to give the ruling Trinamool Congress a tough fight.[15]
Giving indications of a possible alliance between Trinamool Congress and the AAP and JD-U in the future, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said that they were already in a "relationship".[16] [17]
Parties
- All India Trinamool Congress (AITMC)
- Indian National Congress (INC)
- Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF)
- Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM)
- Communist Party of India (CPI)
- Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP)
- All India Forward Bloc (AIFB)
- Revolutionary Communist Party of India (RCPI)
- Marxist Forward Bloc (MFB)
- Samajwadi Party[citation needed] (SP)
- Democratic Socialist Party (DSP(PC))
- Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist)[citation needed] (SUCI(C))
- Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS)
- Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
- Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM)
Election
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Government formation
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See also
- Elections in India
- 2016 elections in India
- List of constituencies of West Bengal Legislative Assembly
References
- ^ "Everything You Wanted To Know About Malda Violence, But Were Too Secular To Ask".
- ^ "Malda flare-up : why the BJP is making such an issue of it".
- ^ "48 hours after communal riots, Kaliachak in Malda turns ghost town".
- ^ "Why did the media ignore the Malda communal violence?".
- ^ http://thewire.in/2016/01/08/as-elections-come-closer-communal-pot-bubbles-in-west-bengal-18855/
- ^ http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/west-bengal-polls-election-commission-seeks-nod-for-delimitation-in-enclaves/articleshow/50452516.cms
- ^ http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2015-12-24/news/69282612_1_muslim-candidates-bjp-leadership-bjp-members
- ^ http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/kolkata/bengal-electorpopulation-ratio-jumps/article8079188.ece
- ^ "Population by religion community - 2011". Census of India, 2011. The Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India. Archived from the original on 25 August 2015.
- ^ "Census nails promoters of paranoia- Diversity shrinking".
- ^ "Could it take two to tango with Mamata?".
- ^ "Data on Religion". Census of India (2001). Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India. Archived from the original on 12 August 2007. Retrieved 26 August 2006.
- ^ "West Bengal Assembly Election Schedule 2016 - infoelections.com".
- ^ "VVPAT usage in 64 seats in 5 states Schedule for the General Elections to the Legislative Assemblies of Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Puducherry" (PDF).
- ^ "Left-Congress alliance in West Bengal Elections 2016, hinted Left leaders". infoelections.
- ^ "TMC indicates coalition with AAP & JDU". infoelections.
- ^ "West Bengal Assembly Election 2016". infoelections.
"West Bengal Election Opinion Poll 2016"