A voter turnout of 78.25 per cent was reported till 5 PM in the fifth and penultimate stage of the Assembly polls in West Bengal.

Except some reports of sporadic violence, polling across the 53 seats in three districts – South 24 Parganas, Kolkata and Hooghly – remained mostly peaceful.

According to Sunil Gupta, Chief Electoral Officer, West Bengal, South 24 Parganas (31 seats) saw a turnout of 79.69 per cent; while Hooghly (18) saw 78.98 per cent. The four constituencies of Kolkata south saw a turnout of 63.10 per cent. “Around 2970 complaints were received till 6 PM on Saturday. Of these, 2840 were disposed of,” the CEO said.

Altogether the fate of 349 candidates across 53 constituencies were decided by 1.2 crore voters. The poll panel has also ordered the filing of an FIR against outgoing Trinamool Congress (TMC) MLA Sonali Guha after she was caught on camera allegedly ordering party workers to beat CPI-M polling agents in her Satgachia constituency.

Poll violence

Meanwhile, there were reports of injury in poll violence from the districts of South 24 Parganas and Hooghly. Incidents of violence were reported from Basanti in South 24 Parganas where four RSP workers were injured in a clash with TMC supporters. In another incident in Canning in South-24 Parganas said two persons were allegedly injured when central force jawans resorted to lathi-charge to disperse TMC and CPI(M) workers.

In Baruipur, some ruling party workers are said to have been injured following a clash with CPI(M) cadres. Reports of clashes also came in from Metiabruz, on the southern fringes of the city.

In Chinsurah, Hooghly, one person sustained head injuries when he was allegedly attacked by TMC supporters. One person has already been arrested in this connection, sources said.

Trinamool Congress Vice President, Mukul Roy, alleged that central forces were “too proactive”. “In some cases, the central forces were more proactive than they should have been,” he said.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW