No wall-writing, no posters, no open canvassing, but West Bengal gears up for the five-phase Assembly elections from April 17.
This is thanks to the Election Commission's strict enforcement of the model code of conduct, which has evoked mixed reaction from the contesting political parties, particularly the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist.
Five days ahead of the elections, poll fever is yet to pick up in any of the three districts, not just due to EC restrictions, but also due to the Maoist call of boycotting the poll.
Unlike previous elections, there has not been any poll tempo in the state owing to the new EC rules and guidelines, which, however, helped the contesting parties to innovative a lot they now use hats, umbrellas, T-shirts and vests to campaign.
The election watchdog's strict surveillance has been paying dividends and the state remains relatively calm as far as the law and order is concerned.
Never in the past has Bengal been so peaceful before the polling process started.
No major pre-poll clash has been reported in any of the districts, and this has been attributed to the strict monitoring of the law and order by the enforcing authorities.
While the EC maintains that the purpose of putting restrictions and regulations are to ensure free, fair and peaceful elections in West Bengal, the CPM has criticised the move as arbitrary.
Unlike other parties, the CPM initially failed to catch up with the EC restrictions, reacting sharply to the directives the poll panel sent to the contesting parties.
Influential CPM leader and Transport Minister Subhas Chakraborty embroiled himself into serious controversy by openly going against the EC and threatening government officials on poll-duty.
Taking note of complaints against him, the EC directed the state's Chief Electoral Officer to lodge FIR against him.
That apart, recent police raids on the zonal CPM office at Keshpur prompted the Marxist party to charge EC observer with ordering the operation "at the behest of opposition Trinamool Congress".
The EC, after hearing reports from the two EC observers in the state, rejected the charge.
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Seeking to bury the hatchet with the EC, the CPM, of late, finds routes to end its war of nerve with the poll panel, with the state Secretary Biman Bose asking Left Front workers to strictly follow EC guidelines, and, at the same time, not to "yield to opposition provocations".
The poll panel's directives are binding on all contesting parties, and the CPM too has fallen in line and is taking extra care to avoid any further confrontation with the EC, as the day of poll advances.
That the EC was serious about holding free and fair Assembly elections was felt when it sent 19 observers, including the Bihar election hero K J Rao, to scrutinise the Electoral roll revision even in remote villages to detect "massive lapses".
The EC took serious action against several government officials, either by transferring or suggesting disciplinary action against erring personnel all over the state following detection of erroneous voters lists.
It is at the behest of the EC that a record 60,000 central forces would be in West Bengal to maintain law and order, with the specific instructions to utilise them properly unlike previous elections in the state.
For the first time, central force will be posted inside booths, with the state police kept outside to man the booth, an issue that was criticised severely by the CPI(M)-led left front.
For the first time, the EC would be sending 294 general observers and 98 expenses observers in five different phases.
On top of it, Chief Election Commissioner B B Tandon visited the state twice to personally assess the poll preparations, facing the wrath of the CPM for 'EC activism', an allegation that the EC rejected.
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