34% polling recorded in third phase election in West Bengal

Thirty-four per cent of the electorate today cast their votes till 11 am in 75 seats in the metropolis and adjoining North and South 24 Parganas districts which went to polls in the crucial third phase of West Bengal assembly elections.

"An average 34% polling was recorded till 11:00 am," additional CEO NK Sahana said.

So far no untoward incident has been reported from anywhere.

Thirty-five per cent polling was recorded in North 24 Parganas, 36% in South 24 Parganas and 31% in Kolkata. The total electorate of the 75 seats is 1.44 crore.

Enthusiasm among the voters, mainly new voters, were evident at many booths. Serpentine queues could be seen before many polling booths where people stood in line to cast their voters even before the polling began.

Tight security arrangements have been made in polling booths with deployment of central forces.

Malfunctioning of EVMs were reported from a few places which were promptly replaced, Election Commission sources here said.

Prominent candidates in the poll fray included chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, finance minister Asim Dasgupta, leader of opposition Partha Chaterjee, city mayor Sovan Chatterjee and former FICCI secretary general Amit Mitra.