Polling peaceful in Assam; violence reported in West Bengal

Voters at a polling booth in Assam’s Dhekiabari. A significant number of women turned up early.

The situation in Assam was peaceful with a significant number of voters turning up during the morning hours to exercise their franchise in the 39 seats where voting was underway in the second phase on Thursday. There were reports of EVM glitches from some polling stations and upon their immediate replacement voting continued uninterrupted, an election official said. A significant number of women voters were seen turning up early for exercising their franchise.

At most places, voters were found wearing masks and maintaining social distance as they stood inside the rings drawn at six feet distance outside the polling stations. E-rickshaw was made available to ferry senior citizens in the Cachar district, and they were also felicitated for their will to vote. Voting began at 7 am and continued till 6 pm with the extra hour given in view of the pandemic. Sporadic violence and minor clashes were reported from various constituencies in West Bengal's second phase, including high-profile Nandigram , where CM Mamata Banerjee is locked in a high-stakes electoral battle with her former lieutenant Suvendu Adhikari, who is now with the BJP. Banerjee slammed the Election Commission for not taking any action despite lodging several complaints and threatened to move court over it. Among the complaints were allegations of "booth capturing" and massive fake voting in Boyal.

An elderly woman after casting her vote in Nandigram , on Thursday. Pics/PTI

Banerjee said she had dialled Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar and a senior EC official to inform them about certain poll-related issues, but refused to divulge the details. According to TMC sources, the CM had called Dhankhar from a polling booth at Boila in Nandigram constituency, where she is pitted against her protege-turned- adversary Suvendu Adhikari of the BJP, and alleged that supporters of her party were not being allowed to cast votes by saffron camp workers. "We have lodged 63 complaints since morning. But not a single action has been taken. We will move court over it. This is unacceptable. The EC is working as per Amit Shah's instructions," she said while sitting outside booth number 7 in Boyal.

74.69 per cent
Voter turnout in 39 Assam assembly seats

80.43 per cent
Turnout till 5 pm in West Bengal's 30 seats

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