State sees about 73% voter turnout in fifth phase
Kolkata: A voter turnout of about 73 per cent was recorded till 5 pm on Monday in the seven Lok Sabha constituencies in Bengal that voted in the fifth phase. Barring a few stray incidents, polling concluded peacefully. Arambag (in Hooghly) saw polling of 76.90 per cent — the highest among the seven Parliamentary constituencies (PCs) that went to polls.
Bongaon witnessed 75.53 per cent voting, Uluberia 74.50 and Hooghly 74.17.
The other three constituencies witnessed a traditional picture of urban apathy when it comes to casting franchise and registered a lesser percentage of voting with Barrackpore and Howrah both having 68.84 while Sreerampore saw 71.18 per cent voting. A major part of these three constituencies are urban areas.
State Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Aariz Aftab told reporters that 90 persons were arrested for maintaining the law and order situation during elections, including 47 from Hooghly, 35 from Howrah, 7 from Bongaon and one from Barrackpore.
A fake voter has been arrested from booth number 187 in Bally in Howrah, a polling agent has been arrested from booth 172 at Ghusuri in Howrah for disorderly conduct.
A person was arrested on charges of ransacking the vehicle of BJP leader Kaustav Bagchi at Titagarh under Barrackpore constituency.
A presiding officer of booth 176 in Bally, Howrah was replaced following allegations of misbehaviour by a female polling agent in the same booth. The poll watchdog has started an investigation into the allegation.
The entire Central Force team doing election duty at the polling station at Birla High School in Jangipara was changed over allegations of molestation. There were allegations that on Sunday, a Central Force jawan entered the residence of a housewife at Jangipara in Hooghly and tried to outrage her modesty.
The total number of complaints during the day was 1992 of which 1207 came through NGRS and 201 through C Vigil and 584 through CMS.
As many as 88 candidates, including 14 women are in the fray for the fifth phase polls in Bengal. The EC had made elaborate security arrangements through the deployment of over 60,000 Central Forces (613 companies) and 25,590 state forces. The total number of polling personnel who were involved in Monday’s polls was 64709 while the total micro observers was 967.
The state CEO informed that BJP candidate from Tamluk, former Justice Abhijit Ganguly has sent a reply to his show-cause notice to the ECI.
Ganguly was show-cased by the poll panel on May 17 for making “improper, injudicious, and undignified” remarks about Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
