Bengal has opportunity to speak for the country: Chidambaram

New Delhi: Ahead of the sixth phase of polling in West Bengal, former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on Wednesday said that the voters can speak for the entire country as elections are to hold the government "accountable".

Chidambaram in a tweet said, "Voters in the 6th round of polling in W. BENGAL tomorrow (22 April) have a great opportunity to speak for the entire country. Witness the heart-rending scenes on TV of migrant workers in l-o-n-g queues outside railway and bus stations waiting desperately to return to their home towns and villages."

"Witness the ambulances with patients and mortuary vans with dead bodies lined up outside hospitals and crematoriums. What has changed since April 2020? If anything, things have become much worse. An election is to hold the government accountable. The BJP is solely responsible for the medical catastrophe that has fallen on the country. The hopes of the entire nation are in the hands of the voters of W Bengal," Chidambaram said further.

In the sixth phase, polling will be held in 17 constituencies in North 24 Parganas, 9 constituencies each in Nadia and North Dinajpur and 8 constituencies in East Burdwan district.

In the sixth phase, 306 candidates will contest in the 43 constituencies across four districts. The total number of booths in this phase is 14,480 of which 10,897 are primary booths and the remaining 3,583 are auxiliary booths.