A last 74 per cent voter turnont in bengal elections

Kolkata, Apr 22 (UNI) At least 74 per cent people exercised their franchise in four West Bengal districts today even as polling continued in many areas after the deadline with massive turnout.

Chief Electoral Officer(CEO) Debasish Sen said the polling for the second phase was peaceful and there were no complaints from anywhere.

'' Everyone exercised one's rights. Even after 1700 hrs, when polling is supposed to be over, several people are still waiting outside the booths in many areas to cast votes,'' he said.

The percentage of polling in 66 constituencies was 70 per cent in Howrah, 74 per cent in Hooghly, 72 per cent in Nadia and 79 per cent in East Midnapore district, the CEO said.

Mr Sen said polling was disrupted for the time being in 98 booths because of malfunctioning of Electronic Voting Machines. However, the machines were either repaired or replaced to resume polling, he said.

'' We are talking to Electronic Corporation of India, the maker of the EVMs so that such incidents do not recur in the next phases of elections, '' he said.

The CEO informed that in the 2001 Assembly elections 78 per cent people had cast votes in these four districts, while the figure was 80 per cent in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections.

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