47 per cent polling till 1400 hrs in Bengal

Kolkata, Apr 22: About 47 per cent of 11.2 million electorate cast their votes till afternoon in the second phase of West Bengal Assembly elections today as peaceful polling was underway in four districts with very large turnout of enthusiastic voters.

Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Debasish Sen here said the polling had been peaceful so far and the turnout was very good in almost all the 66 constituencies of East Midnapore, Howrah, Hooghly and Nadia districts.

'' The polling is peaceful and spontaneous. Long queues have been seen in front of every booth. No incident has been reported so far except technical snag and malfunctioning of EVMs in some booths of the four districts, where the polling had to start late, '' he added.

While East Midnapore recorded about 50 per cent turnout, the polling in Howrah was between 50 and 55 per cent, 40 per cent in Hooghly and 50 per cent in Nadia.

Chief Secretary Amit Kiran Deb also said barring a few minor incidents the polling was peaceful and smooth.

However, a report from Nadia district said tension ran high when para military force jawans manhandled CPI(M) candidate for Ranaghat(West) Alokesh Das, failing to recognise him. The matter was, however, settled after the CPI(M) leaders lodged a protest with the BSF Commanding Officer.

A section of people, alleging that their names had been deleted from the electoral rolls despite having photo identity cards, intercepted Deputy Election Commissioner Anand Kumar at Gayeshpur under Chakdaha constituency of Nadia district, demanding that they be allowed to vote.

The aggrieved people, however, dispersed after the Deputy Election Commissioner assured them of looking into the matter.

Local people boycotted polling at one booth each under Uluberia South constituency in Hooghly and Nakashipara in Nadia over local issues. However, the boycott at Nakashipara was withdrawn after an hour and polling started in the booths.

Inspector General of Police (Law and Order) Raj Kanojia also said the polling had so far been peaceful with no untoward incident.

A BSF jawan committed suicide inside the camp at Shyampur in Uluberia of Hooghly district by shooting himself from his service rifle.

Official sources said the jawan was suffering from depression.

Braving gruelling heat, voters turned up in a large number and cooled their heels in front of almost every booth even before polling started at 0700 hrs. There was a marked presence of women also.

Central para miliatry force jawans, posted at every booth, guarding the premises and patrolling streets, were seen helping the old and the infirm.

However, it was because of very large turnout that the queues were moving slowly and many people had to wait for long to cast votes in many areas.

The fate of 348 candidates, including 28 women, is at stake. Polling is taking place in 12,299 polling stations, 11,160 regular and 1139 auxilliary, across the four districts, for which 14,938 EVMs are being used. More than 57,000 para miliatry force jawans had been deployed and more than 136 Election Commission observers deputed to ensure free and fair elections.

About 800 booths in the four districts had been identified as hypersensitive.

The six Left Front Ministers, whose fate will be decided in this phase, are Fire Brigade Minister Pratim Chattopadhaya (Marxwadi Forward Bloc) from Tarakeshwar, Food Minister Naren Dey (Forward Bloc) from Chinsurah, Fisheries Minister (West Bengal Socialist Party) Kiranmoy Nanda from Mugberia and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prabodh Chandra Sinha (Democratic Socialist Party) from Egra, Minister of State for Health Pratyush Mukherjee (CPI-M) from Amta and Refugee and Rehabilitation Minister Nayan Sirkar from Hanskhali.

Among the Opposition heavyweights, Congress Chief Whip in the outgoing Assembly Asit Mitra from Kalyanpur, veteran Congress leader Abdul Mannan from Chapdani and Trinamool Congress stalwart Ambika Banerjee from Howrah Central seek re-entry into the House.

While East Midnapore accounts for 16 constituencies, Nadia for 15, Howrah for 16 and Hooghly accounts for 19.

Even as the first phase polling ended peacefully with a very high turnout, the Election Commission took no chances in its effort to complete the five-phase process, deploying 578 companies of Central paramilitary force jawans who have swarmed the streets and taken position in all the booths.

Altogether 132 observers, two each for 66 constituencies, besides four others for election expenses, are overseeing the polling.

Udaynarayanpur in Howrah district has the highest number of candidates of 11, while Nabadwip in Nadia, Panchla in Howrah, Jangipur, Singur, Dhaniakhali, Tarakeshwar, Khanakul and Arambagh in Hooghly district and Goghat, Ramnagar, Mugberia and Patspur in East Midnapore district have three each.

There is no straight contest in this phase.

In the first phase, which went to polls on April 17, an estimated 81 per cent electorate exercised their right to franchise in three Maoist-dominated districts of South Bengal.

UNI