Like the earlier four phases, the fifth phase of the six-phased Assembly elections in West Bengal also went off peacefully with over 83 per cent of the voters exercising their franchise in 38 constituencies in Burdwan, West Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia. No person was killed in any poll-related violence and 10 persons were arrested
after the CPI(M) and the Trinamul Congress supporters engaged in brick batting among themselves outside a polling station at Debra in West Midnapore. The police also took 109 persons into preventive custody in these four districts.
Though these 38 Assembly constituencies where elections were held on Saturday, are not considered as Maoist-affected ones, the Election Commission (EC) took no chance in security arrangement considering the rebels’ presence in the nearby areas. It pressed in two choppers for aerial surveillance in these constituencies during voting. The EC also deployed around 470 companies of the Central paramilitary forces in 9,425 polling stations to ensure free, fair and peaceful polling.
State chief electoral officer Sunil Gupta said, “The polling was largely peaceful with no major law and order incident reported. There was also no case of poll boycott. Till 6.15 pm, 82.25 per cent of the 74,17,723 voters had cast their franchise. Since polling is continued in many polling stations, we expect the figure to increase to 83 per cent.”