Nearly 60% votes cast till 1 p.m. in W. Bengal

Nearly 60 per cent votes have been polled till 1 p.m. in West Bengal, where polling is going on in four parliamentary constituencies in the first phase of the five-phase election to decide the fate of 47 candidates.

“On an average 59.16 per cent of the 60,33,310 voters have cast their votes in the first six hours of polling in four Lok Sabha constituencies of Coochbehar, Alipurduar, Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling in north Bengal,” state Chief Electoral Officer Sunil Gupta said here today.

Coochbehar witnessed 59.48 per cent polling in the first six hours, while Alipurduar 59.86 per cent, Jalpaiguri 60.89 per cent and Darjeeling 56.43 per cent polling.

Barring replacement of a few EVMs after mock polling was conducted before the election process began in some places, the entire election process was peaceful except some stray incidents, Gupta said.

Reports of malfunctioning of five EVMs each were received from Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar constituencies, district sources added.

“We have not yet received report of any major incident regarding disruption of law and order or complaint of booth jamming or violation of the model code of conduct,” Gupta said.

Arrangements were made for Web casting and live monitoring of sensitive areas amid tight security provided by central forces, which were more than double the 2011 Assembly election, the CEO said.