Singur, Nandigram vote in round four of West Bengal polls

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People queued up in large numbers to vote in the fourth phase of West Bengal Assembly elections on Tuesday for 63 constituencies spread over three districts.

An electorate of around 1.26 crore is set to choose its representatives from 366 candidates in the voting covering three entire districts - Howrah, Hooghly and East Midnapore - and parts of Burdwan.

A presiding officer in the Arambagh area of Hooghly district was removed following allegations of partiality, said an election commission official.

"Voting is on peacefully. There are no reports of any untoward incidents," said an officer at the state police control room here.

Crucial rural areas like Singur and Nandigram - that saw intense peasant protests against firmland acquisition in the past five years - are going to the polls for the fourth phase. Hooghly has 18 seats, Howrah and East Midnapore 16 each.

Voting is being held in 13 of the 25 seats in Burdwan district on Tuesday.

There are 15,711 polling booths out of which about 5,000 have been declared super sensitive.

In the first three phases, polling has been conducted in 12 districts covering 179 of the state's 294 assembly seats.

Among the star candidates in the fray are state Industries Minister Nirupam Sen, Agriculture Minister Naren Dey, Higher Education Minister Sudarshan Roy Chowdhury, Information and Culture Minister Soumendranath Bera and Fire and Emergency Services Minister Pratim Chatterjee.

The CPI-M is contesting 46 constituencies, CPI six, Trinamool 59, Congress four, Forward Bloc seven, and the BJP 63.

Six-phase polls for the 294-member assembly, which started April 18, will end May 10. The counting of votes will take place May 13.