30 per cent polling till noon

Kolkata, May 8 (UNI) About 30 per cent people cast their votes till noon as polling was going on peacefully in six North Bengal districts today in the fifth and final phase of Assembly elections.

Deputy Election Commissioner Anand Kumar said no untoward incident had been reported so far from anywhere.

" Polling is peaceful and voters are enthusiastic. We have not received reports of any major incident, " he told UNI.

However, official reports said BSF jawans shot dead one person at Rahugram under Islampur constituency in North Dinajpur district, bordering Bangladesh when he was trying to sneak into the Indian territory.

Three RSP activists were arrested from Balurghat in South Dinajpore district, while another was arrested from Tapan in Maldaha district for campaigning for their parties.

Voters in one each booth in Manickchak and Ratua Assembly constituencies in Maldaha district have boycotted polling in protest against "tardy" development in their areas.

The polling is being held for 49 seats in Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, Coochbehar, South and North Dinajpur and Malda districts.

Polling had to be suspended in a number of booths following snag in the electronic voting machines, while voters complained of very slow pace of polling from many areas.

Allegations were also received from a sizable number of people in the poll-going districts that they were not allowed to vote for not possessing photo identity cards even though the Election Commission had recognised them as genuine voters.

Meanwhile, polling started on a brisk note since morning. With the weather looking up after last night's squall bringing much needed respite, people from all walks of life, particularly tea garden workers, were seen queuing up in front of several booths to exercise their franchise.

The voters ncluded X X X X X X Eds. Here pick up suitably from Para one of CA 2 " ELECTION-BENGAL-POLLING".

UNI KDG SJC AKP1255