Elections 2019: West Bengal records over 51 per cent vote amid violence

Over 51 per cent of the electorate cast their votes in the three northern West Bengal constituencies in the second phase of the Lok Sabha elections on Thursday amid several incidents of violence including an attack on a CPIM candidate and the smashing of an EVMIn the first six hours till 1 pm the overall polling percentage was 5160 with Raiganj recording 5254 Jalpaiguri 5473 and Darjeeling 4752 per cent turnout an Election Commission EC official said in KolkataVoting across 5390 polling stations began at 7 am and will end at 6 pmMuch of the violence was reported from Chopra in Darjeeling constituency where voters put up a road blockade demanding that CRPF personnel be deployed in all polling stations to ensure their securityThe Bharatiya Janata Party BJP had won the Darjeeling seat in 2009 and 2014The villagers complained of intimidation by the ruling Trinamool Congressbacked goons and refused to cast their votes under the supervision of state police personnel accusing them of being partisanAs the BJP and Trinamool activists clashed with stones and bombs the Rapid Action Force personnel lobbed tear gas shells to control the situationThe workers of the two parties also clashed inside the polling booth at Chopras Kotgach where the Electronic Voting Machine EVM was broken into piecesAll possible measures have been taken in Chopra and the situation is now under control Central forces have also been deployed in concerned polling booths Currently polling process is on an official saidThe villagers standing in the queue said the situation has become normal after the deployment of the central forcesThe vehicle of the Communist Party of IndiaMarxist CPIM sitting MP from Raiganj Mohammad Salim who is seeking reelection was damaged at Islampur when he visited the area on receiving reports of booth capturing Salim alleged that the police were mute spectators during the attackSpecial Police observer for West Bengal Vivek Dube however described the polling as more or less peaceful notwithstanding small incidentsSenior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Pradip Bhattacharya lodged a complaint before the Commission alleging violence in many polling stations where the central forces were not deployedUnfortunately several incidents of violence have been reported in three constituencies Central forces were deployed mostly in urban areas while state police personnel were deployed in many sensitive areas he told reporters at the office of the Chief Electoral OfficerState BJP President Dilip Ghosh also accused the Commission of not taking requisite security measures in advance in areas like Chopra and Dhupguri which had seen poll violence earlier alsoTea garden workers were among those who turned out in strength in the Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri constituencies while Muslim community members were seen in good numbers at the prestigious Raiganj seat in the early hoursThe polling process was disrupted in a few booths in Jalpaiguri due to faulty EVMsA total of 4932346 eligible voters 2522887 men 2409372 women and 87 other category will vote for 42 candidates in this phaseIn 2014 the Trinamool Congress had won Jalpaiguri the CPIM bagged Raiganj while the BJP secured DarjeelingThe star constituency is Raiganj in North Dinajpur district where Salim is taking on former Union Minister and Congress nominee Deepa Dasmunsi BJP state General Secretary Debasree Chaudhuri and Trinamool candidate Kanaia Lal Agarwal Ten other candidates including five Independents are also in the frayIn Darjeeling BJPs Raju Singh Bisht is taking on Trinamools Amar Singh Rai Saman Pathak of the CPIM and Congress Sankar Malakar There are also seven candidates from other registered parties and five IndependentsThe Trinamool has renominated its sitting MP Bijoy Chandra Barman in Jalpaiguri where the BJP ticket has gone to a medico Jayanta Kumar Ray the Congress has fielded tea workers leader Mani Kumar Darnal and the CPIM Bhagirath Chandra RoyThe subsequent phases of polling will be held on April 23 29 and May 6 12 and 19 Polling for the Cooch Behar and Alipurduar constituencies took place in the first phase on April 11The vote count is on May 23Catch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates