Amid flood of complaints, 50.96 pc turnout in Bengal's three LS seats till 1 pm

Kolkata: Even as the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) in West Bengal was flooded with complaints of poll-related violence, heavy polling was recorded in the first six hours in the three Lok Sabha seats where voting was taking place on Friday.

As per reports from CEO Ariz Aftab's office, the total votes polled on average in Cooch Behar, Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar was 50.96 per cent till 1 p.m. The maximum polling was recorded in Alipurduar at 51.58 per cent, followed by Cooch Behar at 50.69 per cent and Jalpaiguri at 50.65 per cent.

The CEO's office has also provided the breakup of the total of 383 complaints received at the office till 1 p.m. The maximum number of complaints had been received from Cooch Behar at 182, followed by 135 at Alipurduar and Jalpaiguri at just 76. “Of these 383 complaints, 195 have already been resolved,” said a source in the CEO's office.

Meanwhile, Trinamool Congress leadership has accused the Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) personnel of behaving in a biased manner in Cooch Behar by attempting to restrict the movements of the party candidate Jagadish Chandra Barma Basunia.

Basunia was spotted engaging in heated arguments with the CAPF personnel deputed in Sitai of Cooch Behar.

At Falimari area, also in Cooch Behar, the CAPF personnel recovered nine crude bombs from near an election premise. A similar recovery of crude bombs was also reported from the Vetaguri area in the same constituency.