Kolkata: An estimated 13.41 per cent of the 1,49,63,064 voters have so far exercised their franchise in nine Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal till 9.00am am Sunday, an Election Commission official said. Polling in the first two hours was peaceful, the official informed.
“Polling till 9.00am in the nine Lok Sabha constituencies is absolutely peaceful. We have received no complaints of any violence or any problem from anywhere in any of the polling booths in these constituencies. However, our officers are alert and ready to counter any untoward incident,” a senior IPS officer told this agency.
Till 9.00am, Jadavpur constituency recorded the highest turnout with 17.11 per cent followed by Dum Dum 16.57 per cent, Mathurapur (SC) 15.68 per cent, Basirhat 15.67 per cent, Barasat 14.78 per cent, Diamond Harbour 13.32 per cent, Kolkata (Dakshin) 11.92 per cent, Jaynagar 11.43 per cent and Kolkata (Uttar) 11.08 per cent, the EC official said. A total of 111 candidates are in fray.
There were, however, reports of malfunctioning of EVMs from some polling stations. “We are looking into that. Reserve EVMs are being sent to those polling centres where from we got reports of some machines not functioning properly. Polling there will soon start,” the official added.
Eight seats, barring Jadavpur, will witness a four-cornered contest between the Trinamool Congress, the BJP, the Congress and the Left Front.
Keeping in mind the violence which escalated a few days back 710 companies of Central forces are being deployed by the Election Commission (EC) to cover 17,042 polling booths to ensure free and fair voting, officials said.
PTI
