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West Bengal Polls Phase 5: Brisk polling, situation peaceful, say officials
The next phase of polling in the West Bengal Assembly Election 2021 will be held on April 22.
West Bengal recorded a voter turnout of over 36 per cent after fours hours of polling across 45 constituencies spread across six districts during the West Bengal Polls Phase 5, according to the Election Commission of India (ECI). Voting for the fifth phase of West Bengal assembly elections began at 7am on Saturday amid tight security in 15,789 polling stations.
News agency PTI cited a senior poll official as saying that the overall situation was peaceful in the areas and that security personnel are maintaining a tight vigil. "As of now, polling is peaceful. There were a few incidents and those have been addressed by the central forces personnel," the official said, according to PTI. "We have an adequate number of forces deployed in all the six districts where polling is underway. A Quick Response Team (QRT) will reach a spot within minutes after receiving information of any untoward incident. At the moment, there is no report of any big problem anywhere," the official mentioned above added.
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Polling is underway in the 45 seats in North 24 Parganas, Purba Bardhaman and Nadia in south Bengal, and Jalpaiguri, Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts in the north as the ruling Trinamool Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) fight it out in these elections. As many as 1,1347,344 people are eligible to vote—of them, 57,35,766 are men, 56,11,354 are women and 224 are the third gender.
Long queues were seen outside most of the polling booths since the initial hours with people choosing to vote early to avoid the heat. Security forces ensured social distancing at the booths and voters were given masks, hand sanitisers and gloves.
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Trinamool Congress leader Madan Mitra cast his vote at a polling booth in Kamarhati after offering prayers at Dakshineshwar Kali Temple in North 24 Paraganas. Mitra is contesting against the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) Anindya Raju Banarjee and CPI(M)'s Sayandip Mitra in the Kamarhati constituency. "I have full authority to enter a polling booth. They (central forces) even searched my pocket in which I was carrying pictures of my goddess. This is a democratic country. I am going to meet the chief election commissioner," Mitra told ANI.
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West Bengal minister and TMC candidate from Bidhannagar Sujit Bose visited the polling booth in East Calcutta Girls College in the assembly constituency. Bose is up against Sabyasachi Dutta of the BJP from the Bidhannagar constituency.
The polling started at 7am and will continue till 6.30pm. The next phase of polling in the West Bengal Assembly Election 2021 will be held on April 22. Votes will be counted on May 2.
