West Bengal votes for Lok Sabha

Simultaneous balloting in West Bengal for nine Lok Sabha seats and bypoll for one state assembly seat began Wednesday, officials said.

The BJP has fielded celebrities like Bollywood music composer Bappi Lahiri, Bengali actor George Baker and journalist Chandan Mitra.

As many as 87 candidates are in the fray for the Lok Sabha seats and four for the Galsi state assembly seat.

Over 13.8 million voters are eligible to vote in 17,330 polling booths.

In 2009, the Trinamool Congress had won five of the nine seats - Uluberia, Howrah, Sreerampur, Hooghly, and Birbhum.

The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M)-led Left Front claimed the remaining four seats of Bolpur, Arambagh, Bardhaman Purba and Bardhaman-Durgapur.