For the first phase of polls in the 14 parliamentary constituencies in West Bengal, voter turnout till 5pm was 64 per cent.
“Overall voter turnout this year has been lower compared to the 2004 Lok Sabha elections. In 2004 Lok Sabha elections voter turnout had been 78 percent and for Vidhan Sabha elections it was 83 per cent. Our main aim was to ensure peaceful election without any loss of life and violence, which has been achieved with only one minor blast in a Purulia alone, the election was peaceful though with a lower voter turnout,” said Debasis Sen, chief electoral officer, West Bengal. “Our estimate is that the voter turnout will further increase, but for that we have to wait till midnight, since polling is still on in many constituencies,” he added. In Lalgarh, the Election Commission’s efforts fell flat with the voter turnout being less than 13 per cent across the 49 booths, which were all set up quite a distance away from the violence prone areas.
“We expected slightly better voter turnout, we did all that we could do to ensure safe and peaceful election for which we arranged 26 buses for ferrying people to the booths, 49 special booths in four schools and heavy deployment of central paramilitary forces. We would have been happy if the polling percentage had been higher,” Sen informed. As per initial reports, 93 booths across Paschim Midnapore, Malda, Jalpaiguri and Dakshin Dinajpur constituencies, people did not come to the booths due to a poll boycott call. The final reports are, however, expected tomorrow, Sen added.
