Kolkata, May 3 (IANS) Nineteen percent votes were cast in the first two hours of polling Tuesday in the fourth phase of West Bengal’s assembly elections for 63 constituencies spread over four districts.
Elections are being held in three entire districts – Howrah, Hooghly and East Midnapore – and parts of Burdwan, with an electorate of around 1.26 crore set to choose representatives from 366 candidates.
Hooghly has 18 seats, Howrah and East Midnapore 16 each. Voting is being held in 13 of the 25 seats in Burdwan district.
Crucial rural areas like Singur and Nandigram – that saw intense peasant protests against farmland acquisition in the past five years – are going to the polls in this phase.
People turned out in large numbers to vote right from 7 a.m. when polling started.
‘In the first two hours, 19 percent polling was recorded,’ Additional Chief Electoral Officer N.K. Sahana told IANS over phone.
‘At least 54 electronic voting machines had to be replaced after they developed mechanical snags,’ Sahana said.
A presiding officer in the Arambagh area of Hooghly district was removed following allegations of partiality, said an Election Commission official.
‘Voting is on peacefully. There are no reports of any untoward incidents,’ said an official at the state police control room here.
There are 15,711 polling booths out of which about 5,000 have been declared super sensitive.
Among the star candidates in the fray Tuesday are state Industries Minister Nirupam Sen, Agriculture Minister Naren Dey, Higher Education Minister Sudarshan Roy Chowdhury, Information and Culture Minister Soumendranath Bera and Fire and Emergency Services Minister Pratim Chatterjee.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) is contesting from 46 constituencies, the communist Party of India (CPI) six, Trinamool Congress 59, Congress four, Forward Bloc seven, and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) 63.
In the first three phases, polling was conducted in 12 districts covering 179 of the state’s 294 assembly seats.
The six-phased polls for the 294-member assembly, which started April 18, will end May 10. The counting of votes will be held May 13.
