 "Violence mars fifth phase of polls in Bengal, 73% voter turnout till 5 pm")
Scattered incidents of violence marred the fifth phase of Lok Sabha polls to seven parliamentary constituencies in West Bengal, with 73 per cent of the 12.5 million voters exercising their franchise till 5 pm on Monday, officials said.
Voter turnout was lesser than the previous four phases, and also in comparison to the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. The final voter turnout for this election, however, will be released later.
"Polling was more or less peaceful, barring a few scattered incidents of violence in some constituencies. But we took immediate steps to address those," state Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Ariz Aftab told PTI.
Although no major incident was reported, scattered disturbances could not be averted despite the poll body deploying over 60,000 personnel of central forces, in addition to around 30,000 policemen, the highest number of security forces deployed in any of the phases so far in the state, the official said, adding a total of 1,992 complaints were received.
Arambagh Lok Sabha constituency registered the highest turnout of 76.90 per cent till 5 pm, which was lesser than 82.57 per cent recorded in 2019 and 85.10 per cent in the 2021 assembly polls.
The voters' turnout in Bangaon was 75.73 per cent till 5 pm on Monday, much lesser than 82.63 per cent in 2019 and 84.14 in 2021, he said.
Uluberia recorded 74.50 per cent turnout, lesser than 81.16 per cent in 2019 and 83.87 per cent in the 2021 polls. The voter turnout was 74.17 per cent for Hooghly, lesser than 82.47 per cent in 2019 and 83.12 in 2021..
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Serampore registered a voter turnout of 71.18 per cent. The figure was 78.48 per cent in 2019 and 79.35 per cent in 2021.
Barrackpore, which recorded 68.84 per cent turnout, had registered 76.92 per cent voting in 2019 and 76.24 per cent in 2021, the official said.
Howrah recorded 68.84 per cent, down from 74.78 per cent in 2019 and 75.59 in 2021.
Polling began at 7 am and continued till 6 pm.
In Hooghly constituency, BJP's sitting MP and party candidate Locket Chatterjee faced protests from TMC activists led by TMC MLA Ashima Patra.
As Chatterjee was on her way to a booth, TMC activists staged protests and raised "chor chor (thief thief) slogans, following which, the BJP MP got down from her car and shouted counter slogans.
A huge contingent of police and central forces rushed to the spot and prevented the situation from escalating.
In Barrackpore, BJP candidate and MP Arjun Singh faced protests outside a booth. TMC activists showed black flags and raised slogans against him.
As Singh protested against the slogans, clashes ensued between the TMC and BJP supporters. The central police personnel accompanying Singh and present outside the booth resorted to baton charge to disperse the mob.
BJP leader Kaustav Bagchi also faced protests while on his way to Titagarh as his car was pelted with stones. One person was arrested in connection with the incident.
Sporadic incidents of violence were reported from various parts of Howrah constituency.
A fake voter was nabbed in Bally and a polling agent arrested was arrested in Ghushuri.
A president officer was also removed for allegedly molesting a female polling agent, the official said.
On an incident of a central force personnel allegedly molesting a local woman in Uluberia, he said that the entire group of security forces deployed at the polling station was shifted from there to another constituency.
A total of 12.5 million voters, including 6.172 million women and 348 transgender persons, were eligible to exercise their franchise in 13,481 polling stations.
The commission had designated over 57 per cent of the polling stations as sensitive.
Altogether 88 candidates were in the fray in the fifth phase, with the highest number of 15 contestants in Bongaon.