West Bengal goes to polls: What the BJP, TMC and Left Front have promised in their manifestos

In the first phase of the West Bengal Assembly elections, there are over 40 lakh voters (40,09,171 to be precise). Out of these, a little over a half of the voters are men and only 16 belong to the third gender. A News Nation report has said that out of the 4,945 voting booths, there have been no reports of violence even in Maoist-hit regions ( 1,962 polling stations have been categorised as critical ones)  The first two hours of polling saw 23.4 percent voter turnout in the three districts. In 2011, the TMC had partnered with the Congress in the Assembly polls. This time around however, Mamata has taken a dig at the CPM-Congress alliance describing it as “unholy, unprincipled", in the TMC’s party Manifesto. Every party has lashed out against the others in their manifestos. Here’s a quick look: BJP - The BJP, on Saturday, released its manifesto for the six phase West Bengal elections. In it’s manifesto, the most prominent issue is to drive out cross border infiltrators, according to an NDTV report. Rahul Sinha, former state president for BJP, asserted that nearly 2.5 crore immigrants came from Bangladesh and Pakistan and that they would be identified and driven out of the country. Their Manifesto also states that state government employees in West Bengal will on par with their Central government counterparts with regard to Dearness Allowance (DA) if they are voted to power. They simultaneously blamed the TMC for committing ‘fraud’ on the issue. Left Front - The 16 page manifesto of the Left Front promises to make the police and administrative work to be in sync with the traditional concept of a multi-party democracy, reported Live Mint. The manifesto also states that freedom of opinion will be restored to the people. It accuses the TMC of failing to attract investments into the state and the BJP of designing policies that favour corporates and the rich, ignoring the poor in the processes. The Congress, which in alliance with the CPI(M) has released it’s own manifesto, wherein the utmost priority is the ouster of the TMC, said a report in News Nation. They have promised to investigate in the Saradha scam and other chit fund scam as well as the TET recruitment scam of 2011. The report further states that apart from emphasising on a need for development in the industries and health sector, the Congress believes that there is no atmosphere for education in the state and it hopes to establish education as an important aspect. TMC- A report in the Indian Express lists down Didi’s promises: Mamata Banerjee has promised a ‘New Bengal’ in its manifesto. One of the things that Banerjee harped about in the manifesto was to restore land to the farmers in Singur, a case still pending in the Supreme Court. The manifesto also promises to finish all the projects that are underway and introduce new projects, if voted to power. They also promised infrastructure development, improved health care, ‘zero-tolerance’ towards crime, priority care towards farmers and the agricultural sector, industrialisation and also focus on developing West Bengal as a tourist destination.