53 percent polling in West Bengal till 2 p.m.
April 23rd, 2011 - 4:48 pm ICT by ANI
Kolkata, Apr 23 (ANI): Fifty three per cent polling was recorded till 2 p.m in 50 constituencies spread over three districts of West Bengal today.
Birbhum district recorded the highest turnout at 54 per cent, closely followed by Nadia with 53 per cent and Murshidabad with 52 per cent.
“Polling was 53 per cent till 2:00 pm. Polling was more or less peaceful,” Election Commission office sources said.
The voting, which started at 7 a.m. will continue till 5 p.m.
Over 93 lakh voters in 11,531 polling stations spread over Murshidabad, Nadia and Birbhum districts will elect their representatives out of 293 candidates.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has fielded the highest number of candidates, 50, followed by the CPI (M), 31. The Trinamool Congress (TMC) has fielded 29 candidates, the Bahujan Samaj Party (27) and the Congress (21).
Prominent candidates, whose fate would be decided in this phase, include Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s son Abhijit Mukherjee from Nalhati, Panchayat, Minister and CPI (M) leader Anisur Rehman, former High Court judge Nure Alam Chowdhury contesting on Trinamool Congress ticket from Murarai and Rukbanur Rehman, brother of computer graphics teacher Rizwanur Rehman from the Chapra constituency.The Left Front has been in power in West Bengal for 34 years.
The state will have elections in six phases. The first phase took place on April 18.
The third phase will take place on April 27, the fourth phase on May 3, the fifth phase on May 7 and the sixth phase on May 10.
The total number of assembly constituencies in West Bengal is 294, of which 68 are reserved for Scheduled Castes and 16 for Scheduled Tribes. (ANI)
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