High turnout as fifth phase of Bengal polls largely peaceful

KOLKATA: Polling in West Bengal’s 45 assembly segments in six districts was held peacefully in the fifth phase on Saturday, barring some stray incidents of violence reported mostly from Nadia and North 24 Parganas districts, election officials said.

Polling in East Burdwan in south Bengal and the three north Bengal districts of Kalimpong, Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri was held smoothly. Till 5pm, 78.36 % votes were polled in the six districts, the Election Commission (EC) said in a statement. The total numbers of voters and candidates in the fifth phase were 45,756,282 and 1,259, respectively.

The Trinamool Congress (TMC) is contesting 291 of the state’s 294 seats this year, leaving the three hill seats of Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong to the two factions of the GJM that are supporting chief minister Mamata Banerjee in the other constituencies of north Bengal.

Unlike the fourth phase held on April 10, in which an 18-yearold youth was murdered and four men were killed in firing by the central armed police force (CAPF) during an alleged attack at Sitalkuchi in north Bengal, there was no report of any death or police firing on Saturday.

Of the eight phases, the fifth witnessed the biggest electoral exercise amid rising Covid-19 cases and deaths. EC deployed 853 companies of CAPF on Saturday.

EC thanked voters for following Covid-19 protocols and said women turned up in large numbers at the 15,789 polling stations. Allegations of attacks and intimidation were raised by the TMC and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at Bidhan Nagar (Salt Lake), Rajarhat-New Town, Kamarhati, Baranagar, Hingalganj and Panihati in North 24 Parganas and Shantipur, Kalyani, Ranaghat North West and Ranaghat South in Nadia district.