Polling ends for West Bengal second phase

Polling ended peacefully on Saturday for the second leg of the staggered six-phase West Bengal elections as high percentage of voters exercised their democratic right.

A total of 50 Assembly Constituencies (ACs) are undergoing polls in the second phase in the three districts of Nadia (with 17 seats), Birbhum (11) and Murshidabad (22) amid elaborate security arrangements on Saturday.

As official polling time ended at 5 pm, the voting percentages are Nadia 80.96%, Birbhum 81.41% and Murshidabad 79.50%. Average voting percentage in all three districts is 80.93%.

According to reports, voters are still queuing up before several booths across the three districts.

No major incident of violence has been reported yet.

Though the overall polling was peaceful, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M) alleged that the Trinamool Congress (TMC) tried to stop voters from exercising their democratic rights at some booths in Nadia?s Ranaghat and Birbhum?s Bolpur constituencies.

The CPI-M said they have lodged a complaint with the Election Commission in this regard.

In another incident, some villages in Murshidabad, including Bhadur, Naoda, Shaktipur and Bharatpur, reportedly boycotted the polls demanding roads and fresh drinking water in the areas.

In Nadia also, there were reports of vote boycott in two booths. 450 voters of the two booths alleged corruption against the TMC-ruled Panchayat.

Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in 55 booths across the three districts were changed post voter complaints.

Altogether 293 candidates are vying for the approval of over 93.5 lakh voters who were expected to vote in over 11,000 polling stations amid tight security arrangements. Police sources said that 480 companies of central para-military forces were called in to oversee the polls.

Despite the main contest being between the communists and the Trinamool Congress (TMC), it was the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that has fielded the maximum number of candidates (at 50) for Saturday’s polling.

The Communist Party of India (CPI-M) has placed in 31 candidates, Trinamool Congress 29, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) 27 and Congress, which is alliance with the TMC, has fielded 21 contestants.

Of the 293 contestants, 27 (less than 10 percent) are females, while 51 are independents.

The total number of voters in West Bengal taking into account all six phases is 5,60,91,973.

The counting of votes will take place on May 13.

The polling process was monitored with the help of digital camera, video camera and webcasting.