Monday, May 8 2006 11:06 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Kolkata: Polling got off to a brisk start Monday morning in six northern districts of West Bengal in the last round of the staggered five-phase assembly elections.

Long queues were witnessed when polling began at 7 a.m. with people turning up in large numbers to cast their ballots in the districts stretching from Darjeeling hills in the Himalayas to the Gangetic plains of Malda.

The six districts have 49 seats 12 in Jalpaiguri, nine in Cooch Behar, five in Darjeeling, seven in Uttar Dinajpur, five in Dakshin Dinajpur and 11 in Malda.

Polling was peaceful and no untoward incident was reported from anywhere.

The polling sees 306 candidates, including 26 women, fighting it out. The electorate is 8.17 million in this phase. The total electorate in the state is 48.9 million.

Besides the battle in the volatile hills of Darjeeling and the insurgency-racked Cooch Behar, the fifth round is a test for the Congress legacy in Malda where the party's supreme leader A.B.A. Ghani Khan Chowdhury ruled for decades till his death last month.

In the 2001 elections, out of the 49 seats, the Left Front had won 36. The 12 constituencies in Jalpaiguri and nine in adjoining Cooch Behar were swept by the Left Front.

In Darjeeling, where Subhas Ghisingh, the Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) chief and architect of the 1980s violent statehood movement, rules supreme, the Left Front last time won the two seats of Siliguri and Phansidewa in the plains, out of the total five seats.

Three hill seats of Kalimpong, Kurseong and Darjeeling were bagged by the GNLF, which maintains a blow hot, blow cold relationship with the ruling Left Front.

In Uttar Dinajpur, of the seven seats, the Left had won three, followed by two by the Congress and one each by Trinamool Congress and an independent but in Dakshin Dinajpur all the six seats were bagged by Left Front.

In Malda, where the Congress is traditionally strong, the Left Front was ahead by one seat, winning in six of the 11 constituencies. Five seats were won by the Congress.

The statistics of last assembly elections notwithstanding, the Congress increased its margin in the 2004 Lok Sabha poll and registered a convincing win in the subsequent zilla parishad (block level) elections too.

Though the Left Front is tipped to return to power for the seventh consecutive term with a bigger strength in the 294-member assembly and likely to sweep north Bengal as before, the going can be tough in some areas this time owing to new issues.

From separatism, backwardness, lack of industry, unemployment, and labour violence and a crisis in the tea industry to erosion of the banks of the Ganges and a sympathy wave following Ghani Khan's death, issues are diverse in this phase.

All eyes would be on Malda this time because of the Ghani Khan sympathy wave factor. The uncrowned king of Malda is present even in death and it is not just the Congress that hopes to gain but also the Trinamool Congress and Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M).

In Darjeeling, though the GNLF is tipped to win all the three hill seats again, it faces a challenge from an anti-GNLF coalition called the People's Democratic Front. Ghisingh and his party, however, choose to ignore the PDF and say the Congress and the CPI-M are their main rivals.

Cooch Behar, the northern state bordering Assam and Bangladesh, is another district where polling is held under heavy security because of the separatist movement in this former princely state by the Greater Cooch Behar People's Association and presence of KLO (Kamtapur Liberation Organisation) ultras.

Despite Left dominance, the front would face tough fights in some seats in Cooch Behar where Trinamool has teamed up with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and had finished close in 2001.

In Jalpaiguri's Dooars area, the tea garden workers' plight from closure, unemployment and lack of facilities are the main issues.

The luck of seven state ministers would be tried once again in the fifth phase. They are Municipal Affairs Minister and Siliguri strongman Ashok Bhattacharya, Forest Minister Jogesh Burman, Relief Minister Hafiz Alam Sairani, Jail Affairs Minister Biswanth Choudhury, Civil Defence Minister Srikumar Mukherjee, Food Processing Minister Sailen Sarkar and Minister of State for Public Works Dasarath Tirkey.

Ruby Noor, sister of Ghani Khan, Deepa Dasmunsi, Union Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi's wife, and Udayan Guha, state Agriculture Minister Kamal Guha's son, are other prominent contestants.

The first four phases on April 17, 22, 27 and May 3 saw balloting in 244 constituencies covering West Midnapore, Bankura, Purulia, East Midnapore, Nadia, Howrah, Hooghly, Kolkata, North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, Murshidabad, Burdwan and Birbhum. Polling was withheld in one constituency due to the death of a candidate.

A total of 9,089 polling stations have been set up in the six districts.

Siliguri is the largest assembly constituency with 270,339 electors while Manikchak of Malda is the smallest with 135,573 voters.

The highest altitude polling station in the state and the third highest in the country - Srikhola under Darjeeling assembly constituency is also witnessing polls Monday.

The counting of votes will be held May 11.