Polling underway peacefully in 8 LS seats in Bengal, 15.24 per cent turnout recorded till 9 am
Polling was underway peacefully in eight Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal as 15.24 per cent voter turnout was recorded till 9 am on Monday, an election official said.
Kolkata: Polling was underway peacefully in eight Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal as 15.24 per cent voter turnout was recorded till 9 am on Monday, an election official said.
Polling started at the eight Lok Sabha constituencies of Baharampur, Krishnanagar, Ranaghat (SC), Bardhaman Purba (SC), Bardhaman–Durgapur, Asansol, Bolpur (SC) and Birbhum, at 7 am amid tight security arrangements.
A total of 1,45,30,017 voters – 73,84,356 men, 71,45,379 women. And 282 third-gender – are eligible to exercise their franchise in 15,507 polling stations on Monday.
“Polling remained peaceful in the first two hours and there is no untoward incident anywhere in the eight Lok Sabha constituencies. A voter turnout of 15.24 per cent recorded till 9 am,” he told PTI.
Both the Trinamool Congress and the BJP have lodged complaints alleging EVM malfunctioning, agents being stopped from entering polling booths and voters being either threatened or stopped from going to cast their votes in different constituencies.
The TMC lodged around 139 complaints while the BJP over 35 till 9 AM, party sources said.
“We have received 350 complaints, of which 99 were disposed of. Our officials in the respective constituencies are looking into the others. They will be resolved quickly,” the official said.
Congress Baharampur candidate Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and his TMC rival former cricketer Yusuf Pathan said they were happy with the way polling is being conducted there.
“I am happy with the way polling is being conducted since this morning. Polling is peaceful,” Pathan told reporters.
TMC’s Krishanagar candidate Mahua Moitra also said that the election has been peaceful there and she was moving to different polling stations to keep a tab on the polling there.
The poll panel has identified 3,647 polling stations as critical.
The maximum of 659 critical polling stations are in Bolpur, while the least number of 301 such booths are in Bardhaman Purba seat..
There are 640 critical polling stations in Birbhum seat, while Baharampur has 558, Burdwan-Durgapur 422, Ranaghat 410, Krishnanagar 338, and Asansol 319.
A maximum of 152 companies of central forces has been deployed in Bardhaman Purba, 131 in Birbhum, 88 in Asansol-Durgapur Police Commissionerate area, 81 in Krishnanagar, 73 in Murshidabad and 54 in Ranaghat
