Bengal polls ends peacefully; 76.07 pc voter turnout till 5 pm

18:13 April 29

Congress MP and party's state chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury cast his vote at a polling booth in Murshidabad.

18:11 April 29

76.07 pc voter turnout recorded till 5 pm

An approximate 76.07 per cent voter turnout has been recorded till 5 pm on Thursday as the eighth and final phase of West Bengal assembly elections is underway, according to the Election Commission (EC). 

15:36 April 29

68.46 pc voter turnout recorded till 2:30 pm

68.46 pc voter turnout recorded till 3 pm

An approximate 68.46 per cent voter turnout has been recorded till 3 pm as the eighth and final phase of West Bengal assembly elections is underway on Thursday, according to the Election Commission (EC).

13:38 April 29

56.19 % voter turnout was recorded till 1 pm

According to the official figures of the Election Commission of India, 56.19 % voter turnout was recorded till 1 pm 

12:39 April 29

Central force jawans allegedly baton charge journalists in Belgachia

11:51 April 29

High turnout in 1st 2 hours of Bengal last phase

Braving heat and Covid-19, people came out in large numbers to exercise their franchise recording 16.04 percent of polling in the first hours in the last phase where 35 constituencies spanning across four districts went to polls on Thursday.

According to the data released by the commission through Malda and Murshidabad recorded high polling, North Kolkata and Birbhum recorded a low voter turnout till 9 a.m.

Malda, where six constituencies are going for the polls, recorded 18.97 percent polling followed by Murshidabad where 18.86 percent of polling was recorded from the 11 constituencies in the fray.

Kolkata North where there are seven constituencies recorded a polling of only 12.89 percent and 13.44 percent of polling was recorded in the 11 constituencies of Birbhum.

So far as individual constituencies are concerned Sujapur in Murshidabad district recorded the highest voter turnout of 21 percent till 9 a.m. and Dubrajpur recorded the lowest polling percentage in the first two hours. This constituency in the Birbhum district recorded only 6 percent of polling in the first two hours.

An analysis of the assembly seats on the parameters of the Lok Sabha election shows that Trinamool Congress had a lead in 19 constituencies, BJP had an edge in 11 constituencies and the rest of the 5 seats were in control of Congress. The Left Front hardly had any impression in these 35 seats.

A close look at the basic facts shows that the total number of electors including service voters in these constituencies are 84,93,255 of which 43,70,693 are male electors and 41,22,403 are female voters.

There are 11,860 polling booths spread across 5,837 polling station locations where 9,216 are main booths and the rest 2,644 are auxiliary booths. The number of 80 plus voters are 1,12,440 while 72,094 are PWD (Persons with Disabilities) voters. The total number of service electors in this phase are 14,981, third gender voters are 159 and the number of overseas voters is only 10.

11:38 April 29

37.80 % voter turnout till 11 am

According to the official figures of the Election Commission of India, 37. 80 % voter turnout was recorded till 11 am 

11:11 April 29

West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar and his wife Sudesh Dhankhar cast their votes at a polling booth in Chowringhee, Kolkata.  

"Election is the greatest festival in democracy, we both voted. COVID protocol being followed 100%. I'm very happy with the arrangements. Excellent work done by EC & CAPF. Democracy is powered only by your votes. Anyone who doesn't vote loses the right to grievance," he said

10:44 April 29

BJP workers allegedly attacked by TMC in Nanur

Several BJP workers were allegedly beaten by TMC workers in Nanur. The incident took place at Beluti village of Nanur assembly constituency last night.  

Meanwhile, bombs were hurdled at a TMC worker's house in Nanur.  

 TMC alleged the BJP of being behind the attack.

10:01 April 29

16.04% voter turnout till 9 am

According to the official figures of the Election Commission of India, 16.04% voter turnout was recorded till 9 am 

09:16 April 29

TMC leaders cast their vote in Chowranghee

TMC leaders Chowranghee (North Kolkata), Sudip Bandopadhyay along with Naina Bandopadhyay cast their vote at a polling station in Kolkata today.

09:12 April 29

Crude bombs hurled in central Kolkata amid polling

Crude bombs were hurled in front of Mahajati Sadan in central Kolkata on Thursday morning while elections were underway in the area, police said.

The incident happened on Central Avenue in the heart of the city, triggering panic among the people, they said.

BJP's Jorasanko candidate Meena Devi Purohit alleged that the crude bombs were hurled at her vehicle while she was touring different polling booths.

"Bombs were hurled at my car but I am not scared. I will definitely visit the booths," she said.

"They tried to kill me and it is a ploy to scare the voters," Purohit alleged.

A huge police contingent was deployed at the spot, a senior officer of Kolkata Police said.

Evidence was collected and an investigation started, he said.         

09:06 April 29

CPIM worker crushed to death 

One CPIM worker was crushed to death and the other was injured when they were allegedly hit by a car. The deceased has been identified as Kader Ali Mondal. The injured worker is being treated at the hospital. Meanwhile, CPIM has accused the Trinamool Congress of the attack. 

08:37 April 29

PM Modi urges people in West Bengal to cast vote

PM Modi urges people in West Bengal to cast vote, enrich the festival of democracy

As voting began for the eighth and the last phase of West Bengal assembly elections amid a surge in the number of COVID-19 cases in the country, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday urged the people to cast their vote and also reminded people to follow the Covid-related protocols.

The Prime Minister in a tweet today said, "Last phase of the 2021 West Bengal elections takes place today. In line with the COVID-19 protocols, I call upon people to cast their vote and enrich the festival of democracy."

08:08 April 29

Voting began with a half an hour delay due to a glitch in the EVM, at polling booth number 188 in Birbhum.  

07:36 April 29

Mithun Chakraborty casts vote, congratulates security personnel for peaceful voting

Actor and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Mithun Chakraborty on Thursday cast his vote at a polling station in the Kashipur-Belgachia area of North Kolkata during the eighth phase of the ongoing West Bengal Assembly polls.  

After casting his vote, the actor-turned-politician congratulated the security personnel and said that he never voted so peacefully before.  

"I had never voted so peacefully ever before. I must congratulate all the security personnel," Chakraborty said.

07:00 April 29

Voting for the eighth and final phase of West Bengal Elections 2021 begins; 35 seats in the fray.

06:25 April 29

Election officials conduct a mock poll at polling booth number 23/24 in Malda. Voting for the eighth and last phase of Assembly elections will start at 7 am.

06:11 April 29

Bengal polls LIVE: Stage set for final phase of polling

West Bengal: The month-long eight-phase Assembly elections in West Bengal, which began on March 27, will come to an end on Thursday evening with the completion of the eighth and final round of polling.

In the last phase, 8,493,255 people spread across 35 Assembly constituencies are expected to exercise their franchise to elect their representatives from a total of 283 candidates.

In the last phase on Thursday, 11 Assembly constituencies each in Birbhum and Murshidabad, seven in North Kolkata and six seats in Malda will go to the polls.

An analysis of the Assembly seats on the parameters of 2019 Lok Sabha elections shows that Trinamool Congress had a lead in 19 constituencies, BJP had an edge in 11 constituencies and the rest of the five seats were in control of the Congress. The Left Front hardly had any impression in these 35 seats.

The total number of voters, including service electorate, in these constituencies is 8,493,255, including 4,370,693 males and 4,122,403 females.

READ:Fight between centre, TMC intensifies ahead of final phase polls in Bengal

There are 11,860 polling booths spread across 5,837 polling stations, of which 9,216 are main booths and the rest 2,644 are auxiliary booths.

The number of 80 plus voters is 112,440 while 72,094 are persons with disabilities. The total number of service electorate in this phase is 14,981, while 159 are third gender voters and 10 are overseas voters.

The Election Commission has already announced that polling in Booth No. 126 in the Sitalkuchi Assembly constituency in Cooch Behar, where elections were suspended following the killing of four persons during the polling in the fourth phase on April 10, will be held on Thursday.

The EC has announced that 5,433 booths are extremely sensitive where 24 general observers, nine expenditure observers and nine police observers have been deployed for the eighth phase.

There will be webcasting facilities in 55.65 per cent of the booths and micro-observers will be deployed in 20 per cent of the booths.

The Commission has deployed 646 companies of central forces for the last phase of polling with Birbhum having the highest deployment of 225 companies for its 11 constituencies. A total of 215 companies of central forces will be used for the 11 constituencies in Murshidabad, 110 companies for the six constituencies in Malda, while North Kolkata will have the lowest deployment of 96 companies for its seven constituencies.

READ: Cash seized by EC teams ahead of eighth phase of Bengal polls

Though 11,860 booths will be manned by 646 companies with an average of 5.4 companies per booth, individually, Murshidabad will have the highest concentration of 5.9 personnel per booth for its 3,796 booths followed by Birbhum that will have a concentration of 5.7 personnel per booth for its 3,908 booths.

There will be 5.3 personnel per booth for the 2,073 booths in Malda. North Kolkata will have the lowest concentration of only 4.6 personnel per booth for its 2,083 booths.

Sources in the EC said that the rest of the 107 companies of central forces will be used primarily for the manning of the strong rooms and maintaining law and order in the districts where there are no elections.