West Bengal records 75.06 pct voters' turnout till 5 PM in 7th phase amid tight security arrangements

The election was by and large peaceful in 11,376 polling stations spread across 34 constituencies, the poll body said in a statement.

"Voters set an example of Covid appropriate behaviour following due protocols of sanitization and social distancing. Voter Turnout of 75.06% was reported by 5 PM for Phase VII of elections today," the Election Commission said in a statement.

While South Dinajpur witnessed a voters' turnout of 80.25 pct, Kolkata South recorded 60.03 pct. In Malda, 78.76 people voted while Murshidabad recorded 80.37 pct turnout and West Burdwan 70.24 pct.

Voting was held to decide the fate of 268 candidates amid unprecedented security arrangements.

Stray incidents of violence were reported from some areas in West Bengal.

Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee earlier in the day demanded the withdrawal of central forces in the next phase of polling in a bid to contain Covid spread in the state while welcoming Madras High Court's observations that the Election Commission could not avoid blame for the spread of the pandemic.

Banerjee too cast her vote at a polling booth in south Kolkata's Bhabanipur around 3:50 PM.

On a wheelchair, she briefly paused before photojournalists while coming out amid shouts of "Didi, Didi", before boarding her car. She also showed a victory sign towards the cameras.

The TMC supremo also claimed that her party would secure 200 seats while the BJP may go up to 80 seats.

A few incidents of the scuffle were reported from the Asansol area, where Trinamool Congress (TMC) candidate Sayoni Ghosh claimed that BJP activists tried to jam booths.

The allegation was dubbed as baseless by BJP candidate Agnimitra Paul, who asserted, "Ghosh is making excuses sensing defeat".

Paul alleged that a Trinamool Congress polling agent was wearing a cap with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's photo on it, at a polling booth in Baktarnagar High School.

She said that the presiding officer said he was unwell and didn't see the cap.

"EC has said that you can't wear anything that has your party's symbol or a political leader's picture. This is Mamata Banerjee's trick. She knows people won't vote for her. Her time is up," Paul added.

There was a commotion in Rash Behari constituency after BJP candidate Lt Gen (retd) Subrata Saha's agent Mohan Rao was accused of molesting women voters inside a polling booth in the New Alipore area, police said.

Mohan Rao was detained after several women voters claimed he tried to drag them holding their hands inside Bidya Bharati School, a police officer said.

"We have received a complaint in this regard and a probe is underway," he said.

Rao, however, rubbished the allegations and said no such incident had taken place.

A Trinamool worker was assaulted at Farakka in Murshidabad. Meanwhile, a voter died at Domkal in Murshidabad due to a heatwave.

In the Jamuria constituency in Paschim Bardhaman district, Left Front candidate Aishe Ghosh alleged that her party agents were stopped from entering the booth by TMC workers

Trinamool Congress candidate from Rashbehari (Kolkata) Debashis Kumar alleged that he was not allowed to enter many booths by central forces

Meanwhile, TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee after casting his vote at Mitra Institution in Bhabanipur, said, “Extremely confident that Mamata Banerjee will be back with 2/3rd majority...People are dying but EC is conducting 8-phase polls to benefit a party.”

TMC MP Nusrat Jahan after casting her vote said, "Why was the Election Commission sleeping all this while? Only when Prime Minister Narendra Modi decided he won't hold any public meetings, the EC decided to call off all public meetings.”

“It listens to the prime minister and home minister more than anyone else," she added.

With UNI inputs/ All images: UNI