KOLKATA — Voter turnout in the second phase of West Bengal’s assembly election surpassed all previous records, with 89.99% of voters casting ballots across 142 seats by 5 p.m. Wednesday, election officials said.
The first phase had recorded 89.93% turnout by the same time. East Burdwan saw the highest participation, while Kolkata South recorded the lowest. Polling was scheduled to close at 6 p.m., and officials said the final figure would likely climb further.
Voters lined up in the rain from early Wednesday morning to cast their ballots, with women turning out in equal numbers to men. Polling was delayed at several centers due to faults in the electronic voting machines. Like the first phase, the second phase proceeded largely without disruption, and no major incidents of violence were reported across the 142 seats by 5 p.m. Sporadic clashes were quickly contained by central forces and police.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi called the second day of polling an important day in the festival of democracy. Modi said heavy turnout was being reported from West Bengal and that, as in the first phase, large numbers of voters were leaving their homes to cast ballots. Images of long queues were spreading on social media, he said, calling it something that had not happened in six or seven decades and could not have been imagined. Voting was taking place in a fear-free atmosphere, Modi said, with ordinary people casting ballots without fear.
Trinamool Congress leader and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, however, raised concerns since morning about what she described as excesses by central forces. Speaking after casting her vote at midday, Banerjee said harassment had continued throughout the day in the name of a free vote. She alleged that Trinamool agents had been removed from polling stations in several districts and that women and children had been beaten. Without naming the Election Commission, Banerjee asked whether this constituted a free and peaceful election. She said she had never seen anything like it in her life, but added that Trinamool would still win with a two-thirds majority.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report