Amid incidents of violence, 15.85 pc turnout in first two hrs in Bengal

Kolkata (IANS) Around 15.85 per cent polling was recorded till 9 a.m. as voting is underway in four Lok Sabha constituencies in West Bengal.

The first two hours of polling were marred by the aggravating incidents of violence, especially in the two Lok Sabha constituencies in Murshidabad district namely Jangipur. Violence has been reported from Maldaha Dakshin Lok Sabha constituency as well.

During the first two hours, the maximum voting percentage was recorded from the Jangipur constituency at 16.95 per cent, followed by Maladaha Dakshin at 16.30 per cent, Maldaha Uttar at 15.33 per cent and Murshidabad at 14.97 per cent.

In the first two hours, the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), West Bengal has received as many as 182 complaints, out of which 99 are officially recorded on behalf of different political parties. The maximum number of complaints have been received from CPI(M) at 73.

At Ahiran under Murshidabad Lok Sabha constituency, BJP candidate Dhananjay Ghosh got engaged in a scuffle with the local block president of Trinamool Congress. “This particular leader of the ruling party is notorious for arranging election practices. He did the same thing in the panchayat polls last year. He was trying to do the same thing today as well. But he failed as I reached in time,” Ghosh said.

Tension also mounted at Gopinathpur under Murshidabad Lok Sabha constituency when Md Salim, the CPI(M) candidate, reached a booth on getting the news that his agent had been thrown out of the booth. On reaching there, he spotted a fake agent of his party, following which he himself dragged the person out of the booth.