Kolkata, April 18:The six North Bengal districts were witnessing
brisk turnout with an estimated 50 per cent of 97,62,159 electorate
exercising their democratic rights till One PM this afternoon in the
first phase election to 54 Assembly seats to decide the fate of 364
candidates.
Additional Chief Electoral Officer Nikhil Kumar Sahani said around 50 per cent turnout had been recorded till One PM with no major incident reported from any part of the six districts.
He informed that a Presiding Officer was removed after being found talking to a ruling party candidate over mobile phone in South Dinajpur Assembly constituency.
On a specific allegation from Opposition Trinamool Congress, the Presiding Officer was removed after being found that he was talking to Cottage and Small Scale Industries Minister and CPI(M) candidate Narayan Biswas, who was pitted against Trinamool Congress nominee Biplab Mitra from Harirampur Assembly constituency.
It was alleged that the Presiding Officer was talking to Mr Biswas for a long time, said Mr Sahani adding the Presiding Officer’s name was not, however, disclosed owing to ongoing investigation on the allegation.
Mr Sahani stated that the hills registered comparatively lower turnout in hills than plains.
The highest point polling booth, Shree Khola, reported the topmost polling percentage of 50 per cent in the first six ours among all the polling booths in six districts of North Bengal.
Polling officials said the Sree Khola polling station at 2800 mt above sea level reported 50 per cent turnout by 1300 hours among 778 tribal electorate, who used traditional ballot papers.
The booth, about 110 km northwest of Darjeeling, also the remotest, has no electricity facility and not even the potable water.
Elsewhere voting was affected in as many as 35 polling booths in six districts due to faulty 35 EVMs, which were replaced quickly.
With brisk polling taking place since 0700 hrs, Darjeeling, South Dinajpur and Malda districts witnessed impressive turnout of voters, while North Dinajpur, Jalpaiguri and Cooch Behar districts also recorded satisfactory polling.
Inspector General of Police (Law and Order) Surajit Kar Purakayastha also said the polling was peaceful and smooth.
With the ruling Left Front defending its 34-year-old fort against a tough challenge posed by the opposition alliance of Trinamool Congress and Congress, at stake in the crucial battle are the fate of ten Ministers– Ashok Bhattacharjee(Siliguri), Kshiti Goswami(Alipurduar), Sailen Sarkar(Ratua), Kiranmoy Nanda(Raiganj), Ananta Roy(Mathabhanga), Paresh Adhikary(Mekhliganj), Biswanath Choudhury(Balurghat), Narayan Biswas(Harirampur), Srikumar Mukherjee(Itahar) and Anarul Haq (Chopra).
About 60,000 security personnel, most of them belonging to Central forces, have been deployed in the six North Bengal districts with armed para-military jawans manning every booth while the international and state borders of the region have been sealed as a precautionary measure.
Special security arrangements have been made in the three hill sub-divisions of Darjeeling, Kurseong and Kalimpong, the hot bed of the ‘Gorkhaland’ movement and in the foot hills of Dooars and Tarai,
inhabited by heterogeneous ethnic communities.
Eds. Pls pick up suitably from earlier series.
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