Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 1 urged people to vote in large numbers in the second phase of assembly polls in Assam and West Bengal to strengthen democracy in the country.

Second phase of the Assam polls will also take place today. The fate of 345 candidates, including 26 women, is being decided by more than 73.44 lakh voters in the second phase.

Polling began at 7 am for 30 constituencies, including the high-profile Nandigram seat, in West Bengal and 39 seats in Assam amid tight security, officials said.

“Urging the people of West Bengal in whose seats there is polling taking place today to vote in record numbers,” the Prime Minister wrote on Twitter.

BJP national president J P Nadda on Wednesday asserted that the high percentage of polling in the first phase is proof enough of a change of guard in West Bengal, as people have lost faith in the “corrupt” TMC regime. The first phase of assembly polls on March 27 recorded 79.79 per cent voting.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Wednesday wrote to non-BJP leaders including Sonia Gandhi, Sharad Pawar, MK Stalin, Tejashwi Yadav, Uddhav Thackeray, Arvind Kejriwal, and Naveen Patnaik, stating that the time has come for a “united and effective struggle” against BJP’s “attacks on democracy and Constitution”.

Nandigram, where CM Mamata Banerjee is locking horns with Suvendu Adhikari, was the place where she led an agitation against land acquisition in 2007, and it catapulted her to the centrestage of state politics.