16.27% polling recorded in first 2 hrs in West Bengal

Kolkata: Brisk polling much on the line of the other phases was recorded in the fifth phase of polling in West Bengal where 45 constituencies across six districts including Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, Aklimpong, Nadia, North 24 Parganas and East Burdwan are going for the polls on Saturday. Altogether 1,13,73,307 voters will exercise their franchise in 15,789 polling stations spread across six districts.

According to the first two hours data released by the Election Commission, the six districts cumulatively recorded a polling percentage of 16.27 with Jalpaiguri recording the highest of 18.62 per cent followed by East Burdwan and Nadia that recorded polling percentage of 16.89 and 16.52 per cent respectively. Kalimpong recorded the lowest percentage of 14 per cent and Darjeeling a shade better with 14.88 per cent. North 24 Parganas recorded a polling percentage of 15.3.

So far no major incidents were reported as the Election Commission is extremely cautious after Sitalkuchi incident where four persons were killed in the firing of the central forces in the last phase and has made a huge security arrangement for the fifth round of election.

Poling is being held in 16 constituencies in North 24 Parganas, 8 constituencies each in East Burdwan and Nadia, 7 constituencies in Jalpaiguri, 5 in Darjeeling and I in Kalimpong where 319 candidates will test their political future. The phase is likely to be very important because of the 45 constituencies that are going for the poll, the Trinamool got 23 seats and the BJP shared the rest of the 22 in respect to the Lok Sabha polls in 2019.

The Election Commission has made an adequate arrangement to avoid any kind of untoward incident and has deployed 853 companies of central forces for Saturday's elections. The highest deployment of 283 companies will be in North 24 Parganas with 69 companies each for Barasat Police District and Barrackpore Police Commissionerate, 107 companies for Basirhat and 46 companies for Bidhannagar. There will be 122 companies for seven seats in Jalpaiguri district, 68 companies for four seats in Darjeeling, 53 companies for Siliguri and 21 companies for Kalimpong with 301 booths. There will be 151 companies for the eight constituencies in Nadia district and 155 companies for 8 constituencies in East Burdwan.