84.24%Turnout In Sixth Phase Of West Bengal Polls

Kolkata: On Thursday,  in the sixth and last phase of assembly election in West Bengal, over 84 percent of the electorate exercised their franchise till 5 PM.

While East Midnapore district recorded 85.09 percent polling, 82.71 percent votes were cast in Cooch Behar. The overall average till 5pm was 84.24percent.

Two Trinamool Congress candidates in Cooch Behar district faced the poll panel’s ire for allegedly interfering with the electoral process and threatening polling personnel. FIRs (First Information Report) were lodged against Rabindranath Ghosh, Trinamool Congress (TMC) candidate from Natabari and Udyan Guha from Dinhata following complaints from the respective returning officers.

In Dinhata, the presiding officer was also removed by the Election Commission (EC) for not being able to stop Guha from entering the voting cubicle inside the booth.

Over local issues, some people at two booths at Moyna constituency in East Midnapore district boycotted today’s poll, officials said.

The West Bengal police said they made 30 arrests during the day, out of which 29 were preventive arrests.

For the first time since Independence, 9,776 residents of border enclaves in Cooch Behar exercised their franchise. Polling in the border enclaves of West Bengal happened because of the formal inclusion of the enclaves in the Indian territory last year. Among them was 103-year-old Asgar Ali who came along with family members of three generations to cast ballots for the first time.

State chief electoral officer Sunil Gupta said enthusiasm was noticed among the first-time voters over 80percent of whom turned out at the polling booths. An electorate of over 58 lakh was eligible to cast ballots at 6,774 polling stations till 6pm in 25 constituencies. In all 170 candidates, including 18 women, are in the fray in this phase.