5th phase of polls: Bengal records 82.49% turnout

Kolkata: The fifth phase of elections held on Saturday in 45 Assembly constituencies in six districts saw an overall polling percentage of 82.49 per cent with East Burdwan having the highest polling of 86.04 per cent.

As per figures released by the Election Commission, all the 8 constituencies in East Burdwan witnessed over 85 per cent voting with Bardhaman Dakshin (South) Assembly being the only exception with 79.20 per cent voting. Khandaghosh (SC) registered the highest voting percentage with 89.08 per cent polling.

Jalpaiguri district in which seven ACs went for polls on Saturday had overall voting of 84.85 per cent with each of the ACs having over 80 percent polling. Maynaguri (SC) witnessed the highest poll of 88.54 per cent followed by Rajganj with 88.11 per cent vote.

Nadia district in which 8 ACs went for polls saw 84. 35 per cent overall voting with Haringhata (SC) polling 87.13 per cent the highest among all the constituencies in the district. Santipur with 85.64 per cent figured second in high voting list.

The 16 ACs in North 24-Parganas had an overall voting of 80.56 per cent, however, the rural areas in the district witnessed high polling. Minakhan (SC) had 89.54 per cent polls, followed by Basirhat Uttar and Deganga with 88.69 and 88.13 per cent vote respectively. The urban areas like Bidhannagar and Rajarhat-Gopalpur had 66.47 per cent and 69.10 per cent voting respectively while Kamarhati, Baranagar had 72.88 and 72.97 per cent voting respectively.

Darjeeling in which 5 ACs went for polls had overall polling of 77.98 per cent. However, Phansidewa (ST) and Matigara — Naxalbari (SC) located in the plains witnessing 86.02 and 83.43 per cent voting. Darjeeling Hills had 68.09 per cent voting while Kurseong had 73.93 per cent.

The single AC in Kalimpong had 72.57 per cent voting.

A senior official in the Commission said that the voting pattern is nothing unusual. "The city based areas and the Hill areas always witness less polling than the rural ones and the picture is evident from the final poll percentage," he added.

Considering the five phases of elections that have already been held, the 4th phase recorded the lowest voting percentage with 79.90 per cent. The overall poll percentage in the first, second and third phase of elections have been 84.63, 86.11 and 84.60 per cent respectively.