Nearly 78% voter turnout in 8 LS seats of West Bengal till 5 pm

Kolkata: West Bengal registered a voter turnout of 77.99 per cent till 5 pm 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.

Bishnupur (SC) recorded the highest polling at 81.47 per cent, followed by Tamluk 79.79 per cent, Jhargram (ST) 79.68 per cent, Ghatal 78.92 per cent, Medinipur 77.57 per cent, Bankura 76.79 per cent, Kanthi 75.66 per cent, and Purulia 74.09 per cent, he said.

Till 4 pm, the election office in West Bengal has received 1,985 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.

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.