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West Bengal polls: Over 18 per cent voting recorded in two hours

Over 1.37 crore electorate will seal the fate of 418 candidates, including 34 female.

Kolkata: Over 18 per cent voters on Thursday exercised their franchise in the first two hours of polling in the third phase of West Bengal Assembly elections for 62 seats, seven of which are in northern Kolkata.

The highest voter turnout of 20.53 percent was recorded in the 22 seats of Murshidabad district while the lowest of 14.71 percent was recorded in the metropolis till 9 am. The voting percentage in 17 seats of Nadia district was 18.09 while in Burdwan it was 17.01.The overall average was 18.29 per cent.

Amidst a tight security cover by one lakh security personnel deployed to look after law and order, polling which began at 7 am in 16,461 polling stations will go on till 6 pm.

Over 1.37 voters are eligible to exercise their franchise in this phase to elect their legislators from among 418 candidates, including 34 women.

Key candidates in this phase include Trinamool ministers Shashi Panja and Sadhan Pande, BJP national secretary Rahul Sinha, five-time Congress MLA Md Sohrab, CPI-M MLA Anisur Rahman and retired IPS officer Nazrul Islam. The Election Commission has identified 3,401 hamlets in the phase as vulnerable. Polling will be held in three more phases ending on May 5.

West Bengal Assembly polls

Based on complaints received from the electorate, 6,095 voters have been identified as vulnerable after which action has been taken by 4,094 trouble mongers.

The weatherman has predicted 39 degrees Celsius temperature on polling day. Trinamool Congress, Left-Congress alliance and BJP have put up a fight in all the seats.

Former minister Humayun Kabir, who was expelled from Trinamool Congress for six years for making anti-party statements, is in the fray from Rejinagar seat as an independent.

Murshidabad district, which has been a Congress stronghold, will see five-time Congress legislator and former minister Abu Hena putting up a fight once again from Lalgola seat while party legislator Manoj Chakraborty is also in the fray from Beharampur.

Former investment banker Mahua Moitra, who left her lucrative job as vice president of JP Morgan in London in 2008, has finally got a chance to prove her mettle in politics courtesy a Trinamool ticket from Karimpur seat in Nadia district.

Trinamool has been facing a rough time with the Election Commission as party president and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was showcaused by the poll panel over an alleged violation of the model code of conduct.

Election Commission has also transferred a number of IAS and IPS officers including Kolkata police commissioner Rajeev Kumar.

Anubrata Mondal, Birbhum district president of the Trinamool Congress, has been facing the wrath of the EC ever since the election began.

In north Kolkata the Vivekananda flyover collapse which left 26 people killed on March 31 is also a big election issue.

In his campaign speeches, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh raised the issue of fake currency, infiltration and cow smuggling into India through the porous Indo-Bangladesh border.

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi attacked both Trinamool and BJP for not taking action against the culprits involved in the Saradha scam and black money laundering.

Feeling pressure over the Narada sting operation, the Trinamool chief said she would have "given a thought" before choosing her party candidates for the ongoing Assembly elections if the video tapes had been telecast earlier.

( Source : PTI )
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