New Delhi: At least five candidates contesting West Bengal Assembly elections have tested positive for COVID-19. Out of those who tested positive for the coronavirus, three are from the Trinamool Congress (TMC), and one each from the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), PTI quoted a health department official as saying. 


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73-year-old Pradip Kumar Nandi from RSP, tested positive on Wednesday and is currently undergoing home isolation, the official said.


BJP'S candidate for Matigara-Naxalbari seat Anandamay Barman (38), TMC's Goalpokhar nominee Mohmmed Ghulam Rabbani, Tapan candidate Kalpana Kisku, and Jalpaiguri candidate Dr Pradip Kumar Barma are among those who have been infected with COVID-19, the health official revealed. 


Candidates who test COVID-19 positive have been directed to stop their election campaigns and asked to undergo self-isolation. "The candidates who tested positive must immediately stop campaigning. Either they should isolate themselves at their homes or get themselves hospitalised depending on severity of the infection," PTI quoted an official as saying.


Meanwhile, Congress nominee from Samsherganj assembly constituency in Murshidabad district, Rezaul Haque, who had been infected with the virus, died at a hospital here early on Thursday (April 15). 


West Bengal on Thursday registered a record 6,769 new COVID-19 cases while 22 patients succumbed to the infection. 


The state will witness its fifth phase of polling on Saturday (April 17) which will decide the fate of 342 candidates. Voting will be held at 15,789 polling stations in the 45 constituencies- 16 seats in North 24 Parganas, eight each in Purba Bardhaman and Nadia, seven in Jalpaiguri, five in Darjeeling and one in Kalimpong district.


The eight phased Assembly elections will end on April 29. The counting of votes will take place on May 2. 


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