Nearly 37% votes polled in 8 Lok Sabha seats of West Bengal till 11 am

Kolkata: West Bengal registered a voter turnout of 36.88 per cent till 11 am in the eight Lok Sabha constituencies that went to polls in the sixth phase on Saturday, an official said.

Polling began at 7 am in Tamluk, Kanthi, Ghatal, Jhargram, Medinipur, Purulia, Bankura and Bishnupur constituencies. It would continue till 6 pm.

Ghatal recorded the highest polling at 39.21 per cent, followed by Jhargram (38.24 per cent), Tamluk (38.05 per cent), Kanthi (38.03 per cent), Bishnupur (37.98 per cent), Bankura (35.84 per cent), Medinipur (34.41 per cent) and Purulia (33.16 per cent).

“Voting has been peaceful so far. There are no reports of any untoward incident from anywhere,” the poll official told PTI.

Till 11 am, the election office in West Bengal received 954 complaints, he added.

Altogether 1,45,34,228 voters – 73,63,273 men, 71,70,822 women and 133 belonging to the third-gender – are eligible to exercise their franchise in 15,600 polling stations.

Meanwhile, a group of people shouted slogans against BJP candidate and former Calcutta High Court judge Abhijit Gangopadhyay when he reached the polling booth in Tamluk.

A large contingent of security personnel was deployed to bring the situation under control and disperse the crowd, the official said.

“We have taken note of the matter and a report has been sought from the presiding officer,” he said.

On Friday night, a Trinamool Congress worker in Mahisadal in Purba Medinipore district was killed by unidentified people, police said.

The deceased, who has been identified as Sheikh Moibul, was a member of the local panchayat samity, they said.

Of the 79 candidates in the fray, Bankura and Jhargram have the highest number of 13 contestants each, followed by Purulia (12) and nine each in Medinipur and Tamluk.

Seven candidates each are contesting in the Bishnupur and Ghatal seats.

A total of 919 companies of central forces have been deployed along with over 29,000 state police personnel, officials said.