4th phase of polling concludes in Bengal amid reports of violence; 75.66 pc turnout till 5 pm

Kolkata: Polling concluded in the eight Lok Sabha constituencies in West Bengal on Friday with a high turnout of 75.66 per cent till 5 p.m.

The polling percentage has been comparatively higher than the national average of 62.30 per cent till 5 p.m. (as per provisional figures).

Sources in the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) said the final figures will be announced on Tuesday after the final calculations, adding that polling in some booths continued even after 5 p.m. as some voters were still in the queue.

Till 5 p.m. the maximum voter turnout was reported from the Bolpur Lok Sabha constituency at 77.77 per cent, followed by Ranaghat (77.46 per cent), Burdwan East (77.36 per cent), Krishnanagar (77.29 per cent), Birbhum (75.45 per cent), Baharampur (75.36 per cent), and Burdwan-Durgapur (75.02 per cent).

The lowest polling percentage till 5 p.m. was reported from Asansol at 69.43 per cent.

The sources said that keeping in mind the reports of tension and violence coming in from different parts of the state throughout Tuesday, the security and monitoring arrangements will be scaled up for the next phase of elections on May 20.

Meanwhile, the leader of opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, said that if the Election Commission can maintain the quality of security arrangements, the Trinamool Congress will be in tears from the next phase.

Earlier on Monday, Humayun Kabir, the Trinamool legislator from Bharatpur, one of the seven Assembly segments under the Baharampur Lok Sabha seat, alleged that Hindu voters in certain areas have united in favour of the BJP since the Trinamool candidate and former India cricketer Yusuf Pathan was a Muslim.

“In a couple of booths, we could not even field our agents. My question to them is if a Hindu candidate can get elected from a Muslim-dominated constituency year after year, why can’t a Muslim candidate get elected for a change,” Kabir said.

Meanwhile, poll-related violence continued in the state with an attack on the convoy of the BJP candidate from Bardhaman-Durgapur, Dilip Ghosh, at Kalna in East Burdwan district.

The glass window of one of the vehicles in the convoy was smashed in the attack allegedly perpetrated by the Trinamool Congress workers, which left two persons in Ghosh’s security team injured.

At Salar in Baharampur Lok Sabha constituency, the presiding officer of a polling booth was replaced following complaints filed against him by the Congress for allowing Trinamool workers to influence the voters.

In another incident, a CAPF jawan on poll duty at a booth in Birbhum died after falling unconscious. He was shifted to the Rampurhat Medical College and Hospital, where the doctors declared him brought dead.

The doctors suspect cardiac arrest as the cause of death.

Earlier, there was tension in front of a booth at Nanur in Birbhum district with the BJP alleging forceful eviction of its polling agent from the booth by Trinamool workers.

The BJP also alleged that armed ruling party workers were threatening the voters since Monday morning.

At Suri, a temporary camp office of the BJP was allegedly demolished by Trinamool supporters.