Bengal polls: 79 pct voters' turnout recorded in 6th phase, EC cancels road shows for last two rounds

The election was by and large peaceful in this phase of the polling with some reports of sporadic incidents of conflicts from few regions. 779 coys of central paramilitary forces were deployed in this phase with state armed and unarmed police forces in duty.

"Polling was today conducted peacefully in 14,480 Polling Stations spread across 43 Assembly Constituencies, in the sixth phase of elections in the State of West Bengal. Voters set an example of Covid appropriate behaviour following due protocols of sanitization and social distancing," the Election Commission of India said in a statement.

The voters' turnout in Nadia district till 5 PM was 82.70 pct while in North 24 Parganas, it was 76.19 pct. In East Burdwan, the voting right was exercised by 82.13 pct while North Dinajpur saw 77.90 pct turnout.

The main battle this time is between the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with the latter attempting to uproot Mamata Banerjee's reign in Bengal. The third front in this election is Sanjukta Morcha, which is an alliance of the Left Front led by CPI(M), the Congress and the newly formed Indian Secular Front (ISF).

Meanwhile, few hours after the conclusion of the sixth phase of voting, the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Thursday evening banned all types of roadshows and cycle/bike/vehicle rallies for the remaining two phases of polls amid a massive spike in Covid cases across the county including the eastern state. The order will be in effect from 7 PM on Thursday.

Earlier in the evening, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called off his visit to poll-bound West Bengal on Friday to chair a meeting over the pandemic.

Modi, who was scheduled to hold a number of rallies in West Bengal, tweeted, "Tomorrow, will be chairing high-level meetings to review the prevailing COVID-19 situation. Due to that, I would not be going to West Bengal."

India reported the world's highest-ever single-day surge with 3,14,835 new cases, pushing the total infections to 1,59,30,965, Union Health Ministry data reported on Thursday.

According to the United States Centers for Disease Control (USCDC), the new cases are the highest single-day rise reported anywhere in the world. The highest yet for the USA was +3,13,310 on January 8, 2021.

In yet another record, 2,104 deaths were reported in the past 24 hrs, taking the overall death toll to 1,84,657.