Over 82% turnout recorded in eight Lok Sabha seats of Bengal in phase 6 of polls

Kolkata: The final poll percentage of the sixth phase of Lok Sabha elections that spanned across eight Parliamentary constituencies (PCs) in Bengal witnessed 82.71 per cent polling — the highest among all the phases of elections held so far in Bengal.

A sharp rise of nearly 5 per cent in polling was witnessed in the last hour as till 5 pm on Saturday, the poll watchdog’s figure showed that there was 77.99 per cent voting.

Bishnupur PC in Bankura district witnessed the highest voter turnout of 85.91 per cent, followed by Tamluk with 84.79 and Kanthi with 84.77 — both constituencies being located under East Midnapore district. Jhargram clocked a voter turnout of 83.47 while Ghatal and Medininpur both under West Midnapore district saw a voting percentage of 82.17 and 81.56 respectively.

Bankura registered a voter turnout of 80.75 per cent and the only PC where there was less than 80 per cent polling was Purulia with 78.39 per cent.

Till 5 pm on Saturday, Bishnupur had registered 81.47 per cent voting, Tamluk 79.79 per cent voting, Jhargram 79.68, Ghatal 78.92, Medinipur 77.57, Bankura 76.79, Kanthi 75.66 and Purulia 74.09 per cent.

However, during the Lok Sabha elections in 2019 and the Assembly polls in 2021, the voting percentage was higher in comparison to this election. Tamluk had seen 84.71 and 88.14 per cent, Kanthi 85.28 and 87.83, Ghatal 82.70 and 84.81, Jhargram 85.47 and 86.82, Medinipur 84.13 and 84.97, Purulia 82.28 and 81.86, Bankura 83.15 and 84.22 and Bishnupur 87.39 and 89.14. The overall voting percentage in these constituencies in 2019 and 2021 was 84.36 and 85.96 respectively. As per data by the Election Commission, the other two phases of polls where the voter turnout was over 80 per cent were in the fourth phase when polling was 80.22 per cent and in the first phase when the poll was

81.9 per cent.

Among the eight PCs that went for polls in the 4th phase barring Berhampore and Asansol, the other six constituencies namely Krishnanagar, Ranaghat, Bardhaman Purba, Bardhaman-Durgapur, Bolpur and Birbhum saw over 80 per cent polling. During the first phase of polls three PCs — Alipurduar, Cooch Behar and Jalpaiguri went for polls.

The overall vote percentage in the second and third phase was 76.58 and 77.53 per cent respectively while in the fifth phase the voter turnout was 78.45 per cent.

“Considering the other constituencies in the country that went for polls, our polling has been highly satisfactory in almost all the phases and the best has been in the sixth phase,” an official in the office of Bengal CEO (Chief Electoral Officer) said.