Phase 3: Polling held peacefully in Bengal, voting percentage stood at 73.93% till 5 pm

Kolkata: The third phase of Lok Sabha elections concluded peacefully in Bengal barring few stray incidents. The overall voting percentage till 5 pm on Tuesday was 73.93 percent with Murshidabad Parliamentary constituency (PC) having 76.49 percent voting — the highest among the four PCs that went for polls.

Malda North and Malda South recorded 73.30 and 73.68 per cent voting while Jangipur saw a percentage of 72.13 — the lowest among the four constituencies.

Bhagawangola Assembly Constituency (AC) in Murshidabad district that underwent bypolls had a voting percentage of 73.68 till 5 pm. The office of the state Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) expressed satisfaction over the voter turnout despite the polling percentage being less than the 2019 Lok Sabha where it was 81.62 per cent. “Voting percentage will rise further as polls will continue till 6 pm,” a CEO office official said.

A 50-year-old person fell ill after leaving his residence to cast his vote. Sheikh Danesh of Malatipur assembly in Malda was taken to a nearby hospital where he was declared brought dead. Sources said Danesh had suffered a sudden cardiac arrest.

The Commission removed a presiding officer on duty at Azimganj School immediately after commencement of the poll after noticing that her engagement was illegal. The police detained a fake polling agent from a booth at Gopinathpur area in Murshidabad.

Trinamool Congress block president of Raghunathganj I Block, Goutam Ghosh lodged a complaint against BJP’s Jangipur candidate Dhananjoy Ghosh alleging that the latter heckled him at booth number 88 in Ajagarpara are. Central forces intervened to bring situations under control.

There were allegations of bomb hurling from Domkal in Murshidabad on Monday night. The police intervened and brought situations under control. A bomb was seized from the spot.

Aariz Aftab, the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Bengal said a total of 433 complaints were received through various modes from different political parties and effective measures were taken immediately. Altogether, 334 companies of Central forces and 13601 state police personnel were deployed for the elections. Webcasting was carried out in all 7360 polling booths. 35328 polling personnel and 285 micro-observers were deployed in the elections.

Meanwhile, singer Arijit Singh casted his franchise along with his wife Koyel at Jiaganj High School polling booth.

At the end of the elections, TMC local leadership in Murshidabad staged protests, alleging vote loot. The presiding officer, accompanied by central forces, carried EVMs on foot rather than on vehicles.