<span style="color: #222222;">In the poll-bound West Bengal, the high-decibel electioneering campaign for the Fifth Phase  of Assembly Elections is going on with the prominent leaders of different political parties engaging in whirlwind tours for canvassing in favour of their candidates. </span><span style="color: #333333;"><br />'' </span><span style="color: #222222;"> </span><span style="color: #333333;"><br />'' </span><span style="color: #222222;">The polling process has already been over in respect of 135 out of total 294 Assembly seats in the earlier four phases. The state is witnessing eight-phase elections. During the Fifth Phase of State Assembly Elections, 45 Assembly seats spread over six districts of West Bengal will go to polls on 17th of April. The Election Commission has decided to increase the Silent Period of the campaign for this phase by 24 hours and as a result, the campaign will end a day earlier on Wednesday. This decision was taken after the mob storming and firing incident at Polling Station No. 126 in Sitalkuchi Assembly Constituency in Cooch Behar district during the Fourth Phase of polling on last Saturday. Five persons lost their lives in two incidents in the district.</span><span style="color: #333333;"><br />'' </span><span style="color: #222222;"> </span><span style="color: #333333;"><br />'' </span><span style="color: #222222;"> In all, 319 candidates including 39 women will be vying for the 45 Assembly seats spread over six districts during the Fifth Phase. Over 1.12 crore voters including 55.80 lakh women and 234 Third Gender persons will decide the fate of these candidates. Total 15,789 Polling Stations have been set up for this purpose. Bharatiya Janata Party is contesting for all the 45 seats while ruling AITC is contesting 42. Congress, Left parties and their alliance partner Indian Secular Front are fighting under the banner of Sanyukta Morcha. BSP has fielded 32 candidates, CPI (M) has 25, Congress – 11, AIFB – two, RSP, NPP and CPI one each while there are 83 independents along with 76 others are also in the fray.</span><br />'' <b><span style="color: #222222;"> </span></b><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Senior BJP leader Prime Minister Narendra Modi has claimed that in the four phases of elections in West Bengal, his party already got hundred seats and Trinamool Congress is getting wiped away.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Addressing a public meeting in Bardhaman today, Mr Modi said that Trinamool Congress Chief Mamata Banerjee is getting angrier day by day as the people of the state understood her game and decided to defeat her. He said, Bengal wants jobs, Bengal wants BJP government. The Prime Minister will be attending two more public meetings in the state later today.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">On the other hand, TMC chief, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is addressing a rally at Ranaghat constituency in Nadia. Presenting a list of development works done during the past 10 years, she claimed that her government will continue the work. She accused the BJP of spreading falsehood and criticised the BJP leaders for their controversial comments regarding Sitalkuchi. Ms Banerjee will be attending more rallies in North 24 Parganas today.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Meanwhile, the election campaign is now heating up in respect of the Sixth Phase of elections in West Bengal. In all, 43 Assembly Constituencies will go to polls in this phase on 22nd of April.<br />''</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">The election campaign is also on for the simultaneous By-Elections of two Lok Sabha seats including Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh and Belgaum in Karnataka along with 13 Assembly Constituencies spread over ten states. The ACs going in for the By-Polls include three in Rajasthan, two in Karnataka and one each in Gujarat, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Mizoram, Odisha, Telangana and Uttarakhand. There are 161 candidates in the fray for 13 Assembly seats indicating largely multi-cornered contests. Meanwhile, H. Chuba Chang has already been declared elected unopposed as he was the lone candidate for the Noksen Assembly seat in Nagaland. </span><span style="color: #333333;"><br />'' </span><span style="color: #222222;"> </span><span style="color: #333333;"><br />'' </span><span style="color: #222222;">In Andhra Pradesh, there are 28 candidates vying for the Tirupati Parliamentary Seat. Former Union Minister Dr. Panabaka Lakshmi is the Telugu Desham Party candidate while Chinta Mohan from Congress, K. Ratnaprabha from BJP and Nellore Yadgiri from CPI (M) are also in the fray.</span><br />'' <b><span style="color: #222222;"> </span></b><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">High pitch campaigning is seen for the April 17 by polls to Belgaum Lok Sabha, and Maski and Basavakalyan assembly segments in Karnataka. Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa and leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah, BJP state President Naleen Kumar Kateel and Congress state President D K Shivakumar are among those campaigning in the by election. There are 10 candidates contesting from the Belgaum Lok Sabha seat, 12 candidates from Basavakalyan and eight from Maski Assembly seats.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">AIR correspondent reports, the ruling BJP has fielded Mangala Suresh Angadi, the widow of late Union Railway minister Suresh Angadi from the Belgaum Lok Sabha seat. The Congress state working President Satish Jarkiholi is fielded against the BJP candidate. Satish Jarkiholi is the sitting MLA from Yamkanmaradi. In Basavakalyan Assembly seat Sharanu Salagar is the BJP candidate, Mallamma is the Congress candidate and Syed Yasrab Ali Quadri is contesting from JD(S). Mallamma is the widow of B Narayan Rao, the MLA whose death due to Covid infection necessitated the by-election in Basavakalyan.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">In Maski, former MLA Prathapagouda Patil who quit Congress is the BJP candidate while Basanagouda Turvihal who quit BJP is the Congress candidate. JD(S) has not put its candidates for the Belgaum Lok Sabha and Maski Assembly by elections. A former MLA Mallikarjun Khuba is contesting the Basavakalyan seat as an Independent after he was denied the ticket by BJP.<br />'' </span><span style="color: #333333;"><br />'' </span><span style="color: #222222;">In Rajasthan, ten candidates are contesting in Rajsamand while nine candidates are in fray for Sujangarh and eight are there in Sahara Assembly Constituency.</span>