Voting underway in two key Indian states

KOLKATA, Apr 23: Voting began Thursday in two of India's politically key opposition-held states, with tens of millions casting ballots in West Bengal and the southern Tamil Nadu.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the ruling party in the national parliament, is hoping to make inroads in the opposition strongholds.

In West Bengal, which has a population of over 100 million, polling opened in the first phase to elect members from 152 constituencies of the 294-seat legislative assembly.

The second phase, covering the remaining 142 seats, will be held on April 29.
"Nearly 36 million people are eligible to vote," said Manoj Agarwal, the state's chief electoral officer, adding that around 8,000 polling stations had been designated "supersensitive".

Modi's BJP has waged an aggressive bid to dislodge West Bengal's Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, the firebrand leader of the All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) which has been in power in the state since 2011.

Banerjee's party won 213 of the 294 seats in the previous election held in 2021.
Meanwhile, violence ripped through parts of West Bengal during polling, turning the high-stakes Assembly elections into a battleground, with clashes, stone pelting and lathi charges reported from multiple districts.

From Murshidabad to Birbhum, scenes of chaos and bloodshed overshadowed the voting process, raising serious concerns over law and order. 

Murshidabad emerged as the epicentre of unrest, where tensions spiralled in the Nowda assembly constituency after workers of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Aam Janata Unnayan Party (AUJP) clashed violently. Stones were hurled from both sides as police and central forces struggled to regain control.    �"Agencies