Bengal votes under shadow of Covid, posts 75% turnout

KOLKATA: People came out amid adversities — Covid and a heat wave — in the penultimate phase of the Bengal polls on Monday covering 34 assembly seats spread over Dakshin Dinajpur, Malda, Murshidabad, Paschim Burdwan and Kolkata.
The seventh phase recorded an average 75.1% turnout till 5.30pm. According to the Election Commission, Murshidabad recorded 80.3% polling till evening, followed by Dakshin Dinajpur (80.2%), Malda (78.8%), Paschim Burdwan (70.3%) and south Kolkata (60%).
Though scuffles and altercations with central forces were reported from several constituencies, the day went off without any major incidents of violence.
Security forces lathicharged Trinamool workers during the last hour of polling at Balurghat at booth 46 of Anandabagan. Actor and Trinamool candidate from Asansol Dakshin Saayoni Ghosh complained that BJP activists jammed booths in her constituency. BJP candidate Agnimitra Paul dubbed the charge as “baseless”.
Paul, instead, spotted a Trinamool agent at an Asansol booth putting on a cap with Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee’s photo embossed on it. “This is how Trinamool agents are trying to influence voters,” she said.
At Jamuria, CPM candidate and JNUSU president Aishe Ghosh alleged Trinamool was blocking her polling agents. TMC denied the charge.
Though the EC had marked 50% of booths in Paschim Burdwan as sensitive, there were no major incidents of violence. Elections also went off mostly smoothly even in the violence-prone seats along the Indo-Bangladesh border, namely Suti (known for bomb factories), Raninagar and Raghunathganj after the incident on Sunday night when Arijan Bewa (63), a widow from Panipia village in Islampur, sustained bomb injuries.
BJP candidate from Raninagar Masuhara Khatun and Congress candidate Firoja Begum complained separately that Trinamool-backed goons patrolled from Paharpur, Lochanpur to Kalinagar in Raninagar to intimidate voters. Similar complaints poured in from Tentulia and Kapasdanga in Murshidabad.
Muslim women came out in large numbers in all 15 seats of Murshidabad and Uttar Malda. There was tension at Ratua after agents of Independent candidate Payel Khatun were detained by police.
With polarization at play in rural Bengal, the high turnout in constituencies having a heavy Muslim presence has left Congress and Trinamool candidates guessing on the voting pattern.
The turnout was equally high in the six seats of Dakshin Dinajpur. The demography here is just the reverse of Murshidabad and Uttar Malda. High-profile BJP candidate and economist Ashok Lahiri is contesting from Balurghat while RSP veteran Biswanath Chowdhury has opted out of the fray.