Fourth phase records overall voting of 79.90%

Kolkata: The fourth phase of elections held on Saturday in 44 Assembly constituencies in five districts saw an overall polling percentage of 79.90 per cent but interestingly,Cooch Behar district in North Bengal where five persons were killed in two separate firing incidents witnessed the highest polling of 84.76 per cent.

As per figures released by the Election Commission (EC) all the 9 constituencies in Cooch Behar including Sitalkuchi where the firing incident happened had over 80 per cent polling. Among the constituencies in Cooch Behar, Tuganganj had the highest polling of 88.30 percent, followed by Natabari with 87,48 and Mekhliganj with 87.31 per cent. Sitalkuchi witnessed 85.57 per cent polling.

Alipurduar in North Bengal in which five constituencies had polls registered 82.54 per cent voting. Hooghly where 10 constituencies went for polls had 79.75 per cent voting with Balagarh and Singur topping the poll percentage with 84.46 and 84.16 per cent respectively. Sreerampore and Uttarpara had less voting than the overall average in the district with 74.12 and 76.57 per cent respectively.

South 24-Parganas where 11 Assembly constituencies witnessed polls on Saturday had 77.25 per cent voting. Interestingly, constituencies like Jadavpur, Kasba, Tollygunge, Behala East, Behala West and Metiaburuj that comes under the jurisdiction of Kolkata Municipal Corporation had less voting in comparison to rural constituencies like Budge Budge, Maheshtala, Bhangar, Sonarpur South and Sonarpur North.

Infact, Bhangar had a whopping poll percentage of 89.08 the highest among all the 44 ACs that had gone for polls. Jadavpur recorded a poll percentage of 71.25, Kasba 72.61, Tollygunge 72.61, Behala East 71.51, Behala West 73.49 and Metiaburuj 76.54. Budge Budge , Maheshtala and Sonarpur South witnessed over 80 percent polls.

Similar picture as South 24-Parganas was perceived in Howrah too that recorded 79.75 per cent polling. The town-based areas falling under constituencies like Bally, Howrah Uttar, Howrah Madhya and Howrah Dakshin had polling of 71.32 , 68.40, 73.09 and 73,65 per cent respectively. Constituencies like Sankrail, Uluberia Purba, Panchla, Sankrail, however, witnessed over 80 per cent polling. A senior official in the Commission said that the voting pattern is nothing unusual. "The city based areas always witness less polling than the rural ones and the picture is evident from the final poll percentage," he added.

Considering the four phases of elections that have already been held, the 4th phase recorded the lowest voting percentage. 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.