74.27 per cent polling in West Bengal

KOLKATA: The first phase of West Bengal Assembly elections in 54 constituencies passed off peacefully on Monday. The north Bengal districts of Cooch Behar, Jalpaiguri, Darjeeling, Uttar Dinajpur, Dakshin Dinajpur and Malda went to the polls.

There was no report of any major disruption of the polling process.

The average voter turnout till 6 p.m., according to Chief Electoral Officer Sunil Gupta, was 74.27 per cent. This is few notches lower than the turnout in 2006 — 82.91 per cent.

(Ramachandra Rai, 71, a Gorkha waiting to cast his vote at the Rajavir Primary School, near Rimbik, of Darjeeling district of West Bengal on Monday. The village is located at 6,100 feet in the Himalayan mountain range. The high-altitude booth has 581 voters. (Down) A jawan keeps vigil as voters await their)

Mr. Gupta, however, said the turnout could rise further as “the Election Commission has been receiving information of long queues in front of several booths where the voting process was continuing even after 6 p.m.”.

Dakshin Dinajpur district topped the list of turnout (78.17 per cent), followed by Cooch Behar (77.10) and Malda (75.10). Darjeeling recorded the lowest turnout at 71 per cent.

10 preventive arrests

“Polling was by and large peaceful with no report of any major incident of disruption or violence or natural calamity received so far. We have not received any demand from any party for re-polling yet. The police have made 10 preventive arrests in three districts,” Mr. Gupta said.

Pointing out that the first phase was held under an unprecedented security cover, he said adequate Central police personnel were deployed in all the 12,131 booths for the conduct of free and peaceful elections. The State is to face five more phases of polling.

The fate of 364 candidates, including 102 independents, was decided by 97.42 lakh electors. Eleven Ministers, including Minister for Urban Development Ashok Bhattacharya from Siliguri, Minister for Public Works Department Kshiti Goswami from Alipurduar and Minister for Forest and Wildlife Ananta Roy from Mathabhanga (SC) are in the fray.

Significant among the voters in the first phase were Gorkha Janmukti Morcha president Bimal Gurung, whose party is contesting in the elections for the first time, and Gorkha National Liberation Front chief Subhas Ghisingh, who recently returned to Darjeeling after being virtually forced out of the hills in the wake of attacks on supporters of his party more than two-and-half years ago.

While 92 electronic voting machines had to be replaced during the day, electors in eight booths (six in Malda and two in Dakshin Dinajpur) boycotted the polls protesting against “absence of development” in their areas.

Mr. Gupta said presiding officers of two booths in Dakshin Dinajpur district were replaced after receiving two separate complaints from the Trinamool Congress that accused the two officers of talking to members of the ruling party well after the elections had started.