Kolkata, May 31: An estimated 45 per cent of 8.5 million
Police said a polling officer, who had fallen sick at Hare School
distribution centre in north Kolkata last night, died in hospital
this morning.
According to West Bengal State Election Commission, the turnout
of votes, which was low in many areas in the first two hours after
polling began, picked up as the day progressed.
Police said law keepers had to use baton to disperse supporters
of rival political parties, who clashed in Old Malda Municipality
area under Malda district and at Jamuria in Burdwan district over
the allegation of attempt to booth capturing.
Police also had to intervene to separate CPI(M) and Trinamool
Congress supporters, who took to fisticuffs in front of a booth of
ward number 33 in Kolkata’s Beliaghata area.
They said polling remained suspended for sometime in a number of
wards of Bandel, Arambagh and Kolkata where electronic voting
machines were found faulty.
Among the Municipalities, where polling was being held, Kolkata
Municipal Corporation stood out to be most prestigious.
It is considered to be a litmus test for both CPI(M)-led ruling
Left Front and the main Opposition Trinamool Congress as the civic
poll’s outcome may indicate the hue of political status of the state
in future.
Led by Ms Mamata Banerjee, the Trinamool Congress reaped rich
harvest in the last Lok Sabha polls and Panchayat elections besides
scripting spectacular victories in a few Assembly by-elections.
Riding its success, the party now wanted to deliver a final blow
to the Left in the 2011 Assembly elections, ending its three-decade
of rule in the state.
–Agencies