53 per cent turnout recorded till afternoon in Bengal polling

Kolkata, Apr 27 (UNI) An estimated 53 per cent electorate exercised its franchise in peaceful polling in the third phase of the Assembly elections in West Bengal till this afternoon.

Chief Electoral Officer(CEO) Debasish Sen said the polling was by and large peaceful with the participation of a large number of voters in Kolkata and North and South 24 Parganas districts.

'' I have not received any major complaint from any political party or any polling officer so far. The polling is smooth and peaceful, '' he added.

Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee cast his vote in a South Kolkata booth. His predecessor Jyoti Basu, Finance Minister Asim Dasgupta, Transport Minister Subhash Chakraborty and Left Front Committee Chairman Biman Bose were among the other prominent voters.

The fate of ten state Ministers and the Assembly Speaker is at stake in this phase.

Long queues of enthusiastic voters - a major chunk of them women - were witnessed in front of the booths though the pace of polling was slow in many places because of strict verification of voters' identity.

At least six CPI(M) and three Forward Bloc workers were arrested from Bijpur and Jagatdal Assembly constituencies respectively allegedly for campaigning during polling intimidating voters.

Tension ran high in front of a polling booth at Haltu in Jadavpur constituency, from where Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee is seeking re-election, when a firecracker was burst which the voters mistook for a bomb explosion.

The panicked people, standing in queues, ran helter skelter as the security force jawans rushed out to nab two persons responsible for the mischief.

Chief Electoral Officer Debasish Sen X X X X X X (Picking up from line one Para eight of CA 30 '' ELECTION-BENGAL NOON LEAD-POLLING. '' UNI KDG SJC YA VC1520