Bengal's real poll battle: Not on streets, but over who gets to vote

UNI SPECIALJayanta Roy ChowdhuryKolkata/Murshidabad, April 22 -- Armoured vehicles rumble along rural roads and Central Armed Police forces patrol through bazaars. Checkpoints dot the highways, where cars and busses are stopped and searched for cash or liquor meant to influence voters.

A day before Bengal heads for a crucial election, and the unprecedented deployment by the Election Commission is supposed to curb possible political clashes and "vote buying."However, the "war zone movie set" scenario, belies the fact that the real battle for Bengal's ballot box may not be unfolding on these roads at all. It is being fought, more quietly but no less consequentially, in tribunals tasked with determining who has the right to vote in the forthc...