Kolkata, April 18: Polling in the first phase of assembly elections covering six northern districts of West Bengal today saw a high turnout of 74.27 per cent with no major untoward incident reported.
State Chief Electoral Officer Sunil Gupta said the turnout was 74.27 per cent.
Voting was held in 54 constituencies with 364 candidates in the fray including 11 ministers among whom are Ashok Bhattacharya, Kshiti Goswami, Biswanath Chowdhury, Kironmoy Nanda, Narayan Biswas and Srikumar Mukherjee. There are also 38 women.
Deputy Election Commissioner Vinod Zutshi told reporters in Delhi that turnout was “very encouraging”.
The turnout in the last Assembly elections in these districts in 2006 was 82.91 per cent, he said.
South Dinajpur district recorded the highest polling percentage of 78.17, followed by Cooch Behar (77.10), Malda (75.10), Jalpaiguri (72.57), North Dinajpur (72.43) and Darjeeling (71).
-Agencies