Improve the power situation or we won't vote for you. This is what people living in the semi-urban panchayat areas of Hooghly district have told the candidates of the CPI-M and other Left Front contestants during their door-to-door canvassing as a part of their poll campaign. Having been criticised for failing to improve the power situation, the CPI-M zonal committees have asked the West Bengal State Electricity Board (WBSEB) to ensure round the clock power supply to houses at least before the polls, scheduled for 14 May in the district, said a senior CPI-M district committee member. A large part of Hooghly has been experiencing power cuts during the day. While the mercury is rising, frequent load-shedding has made the situation grim. Reports said, frequent power cuts have been occurring in Makhla, Raghunathpur, Kanaipur, Nabagram, Dankuni, Risra, Piyarapur, Chanditala, Naity panchayats for the last five months and no efforts were made to improve the situation. People of these areas claimed they witness power cuts for seven to 10 hours a day. Enraged by the power cuts, local people had gheraoed police stations, panchayat offices and WBSEB offices, but to no avail. The Opposition candidates in these places are not sparing time to cash in on the grievances of the people. They have taken out rallies in protest against the power cuts and blamed the callousness of the state government for the sufferings. "Our party units have submitted memorandums to panchayats, WBSEB office and police stations demanding improvement of power supply, but the situation has not changed. We have asked people to vote against the failure of the government and the state power minister to provide adequate power supply to houses,' said Mr Dilip Yadav, senior district Trinamul leader. Mr Pralay Sengupta, a resident of Barabahera said they are getting power supply for only 10 to 12 hours a day. "I have an invalid in my home. Unable to bear the heat and humidity, his condition has deteriorated. Frequent power cuts has made the situation worse,' said Mr Sengupta. A senior WBSEB official said efforts were on to improve the power situation. "The electricity condition in the state is not good due to low generation of power in some stations and fault in transformers and over-head cable. The situation will improve soon,' said the official.