Voting underway in Bengal panchayat polls

Kolkata, July 19: Amid reports of sporadic violence, upto 15 percent voters Friday exercised their franchise in the first three hours of polling in the third phase of panchayat elections in West Bengal.

Three neighbouring districts - North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas and Howrah - have gone to the hustings to elect about 13,000 representatives to the village councils, the third tier of India's electoral democracy.

Nearly one crore voters are eligible to exercise their franchise at 12,656 booths in round three of the five-phase rural polls in the state.

IANS