Incidents of sporadic violence notwithstanding, nearly 80 per cent votes were cast till 5 pm in the second phase of polling in West Bengal on Sunday. The figures are likely to go up, said Sunil Gupta, the State’s Chief Electoral Officer.

The second phase covered 45 Assembly constituencies, mostly in six districts of north Bengal, excluding Cooch Behar, and 11 in Birbhum, south Bengal.

Polling percentages (till 5 pm) in the six district of north Bengal stood at 87.07 per cent for Alipurduar; 77.69 per cent for Jalpaiguri; 74.01 per cent for Darjeeling; 78.90 per cent for Uttar Dinajpur; 82.72 per cent for Dakshin Dinajpur and 79.60 per cent for Malda. In Birbhum, 82.89 per cent of the votes were polled.

The second phase of the polls involved about 1.22 crore registered voters, 383 candidates, including 33 women, and 13,645 polling stations. “Nearly 1,000 complaints were received from various parts and most of these have been resolved,” Gupta said.

Sporadic violence

The second phase was, however, not free from incidents of sporadic violence. Reports of clashes between the ruling party and the Opposition came from parts of Malda and Birbhum.

Meanwhile, the Election Commission said it will file two FIRs against controversial Trinamool Congress leader and the party’s strongman in Birbhum, Anubrata Mondal.

Mondal who has been under 24/7 surveillance by the Election Commission, is alleged to have gone out of his Constituency yesterday after the campaigning came to a close. He stoked a controversy today when he allegedly went to vote sporting the party symbol on his kurta.

At Dumrut in Birbhum’s Bolpur constituency, three people were arrested following a clash between Trinamool Congress and BJP workers. In Nanoor, TMC activists allegedly assaulted a polling agent of the CPI(M).

In Rampurhat, some residents reportedly boycotted the polls citing failure of the State government to provide basic electricity services.

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