Two die of sunstroke during voting in Bengal

Barring some minor incidents of clash between the supporters of the ruling CPM and opposition Trinamool Congress, in which about 25 persons were arrested, polling ended peacefully.

South 24 Parganas district recorded the highest polling, at 82 per cent, followed by North 24 Parganas with 80 per cent; Kolkata, however, saw a much less turnout of 63 percent. “The final polling percentage may slightly go up as people stood in the queue even after 5 pm,” Additional Chief Electoral Officer N K Sahana said.

In South 24 Parganas district, a woman died of sunstroke in Kultali while waiting in the queue to vote. Another woman died when she slipped and sustained a head injury after coming out of a polling booth in Canning West,  District Magistrate N S Nigam said.
At Kasba constituency in the city, a clash broke out between the supporters of the CPM and the Trinamool Congress in which four activists were injured and a vehicle was damaged. One person was arrested in this connection, police said. A powerful bomb was recovered from a garden near a  booth in Barasat in North 24 Parganas. It was defused  by the police. Joint Chief  Electoral Officer Dibyendu Sarkar said, a presiding officer in a polling station in central Kolkata’s Maniktala constituency was replaced after  allegations of false voti­ng.

Left Front Chairman Biman Bose,  who demanded repolling in 22 booths in Bijpur and 18 in Harowa constituencies under North 24 Parganas district, alleged largescale irregularities and intimidation of voters by the TMC miscreants.

Meanwhile, TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee accused Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee of trying to manipulate polls in several booths in Jadavpur from where the latter is seeking re-election.

In some booths, there was a delay in polling due to the malfunctioning of the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). At least 90 EVMs were  replaced during the day, but there were no reports of poll process being hampered on account of that.

Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and former Indian cricket skipper Sourav Ganguly cast their ballots in the city. Former Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee was among the early birds.

More than 1.44 crore electorate voted to elect 75 candidates out of 479 contestants  in the fray which included the chief minister and 11 of his ministerial colleagues. Kolkata has 11 constituencies, North 24-Parganas 33  and South 24-Parganas .