Kolkata: Nearly 22 percent turnout was recorded in the first two hours after polling began in 49 constituencies spread over two districts - Howrah and North 24 Parganas - bordering Kolkata in phase four of the West Bengal assembly elections on Monday.

"Till 9.00 am, 21.87 percent turnout was recorded, with 22.63 percent in North 24 Parganas and 20.34 percent in Howrah," said an Election Commission (EC) official.

While the EC claimed the polls to be peaceful so far, the BJP and the Congress alleged false voting in some of the booths.
BJP's Roopa Ganguly contesting from Howrah North alleged false voting in one of the booths and also faced angry protests from alleged Trinamool Congress activists. Her rival from the Trinamool, retired international cricketer Laxmi Ratan Shukla, denied the charges and claimed polling was peaceful in the constituency.

Over 1.08 crore (1,08,16,942) voters across 12,481 polling stations, including 27 auxiliary booths, are eligible to decide the fate of 345 candidates - 40 of them female - between 7.00 am and 6.00 pm. The Election Commission has used 14,353 electronic voting machines (EVM) and 680 Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT).

A total of 672 companies of central forces and 23,000 state police personnel have been deployed, in addition to other measures, to ensure free and fair polls in the two districts, considered volatile in view of their history of political clashes and poll-related disturbances in past elections.

In the Sundarbans region, equipped with ham radio operations to solar lights, officials have gone the extra mile to ensure the electorate gets a chance to exercise their voting rights.

Polling in the, fifth and sixth phases will be held on April 30 and May 5 for 53 and 25 constituencies, respectively.
Source: IANS