The nine-phased lok Sabha elections came to a close on Monday with an all-time record high turnout of 66.38 per cent as the final phase of polling covering 41 seats in three States replicated the trend of increased voter participation recorded in the previous rounds in the over a month-long exercise. While polling in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar was largely peaceful, large-scale violence and booth capturing marked the final phase of polling in West Bengal.
The overall turnout in all the phases of staggered polling this year stood at 66.38 per cent, the highest in the history of lok Sabha elections, surpassing the previous record of 64.01 per cent in 1984 in the wake of the assassination of the then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi. The turnout in 2009 parliamentary elections was 58.19 per cent.
The polling on Monday in 18 seats of Uttar Pradesh and six in Bihar was by and large peaceful. But the last leg of polling in West Bengal was marred by violence and rigging. Violence was reported in North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal where 20 people were injured in a clash between supporters of CPI(M) and ruling Trinamool Congress.
The highest polling in the last phase was recorded in West Bengal where 79.3 per cent of the electorate turned out to vote. Bihar registered the second highest turnout in the last round with 58 per cent followed by Uttar Pradesh 55.29 per cent.
The turnout in Varanasi, one of the most high-profile constituencies where BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi is pitted against AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal and Congress’ Ajai Rai, was pegged at 55.34 per cent. The constituency also witnessed a controversy over Rai displaying his party’s poll symbol, following which an FIR was registered against the Congress nominee. Over nine crore voters were eligible to decide the fate of 606 candidates in the fray, including Modi, Kejriwal and SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav (Azamgarh) in the last phase of polling.The outcome of Monday’s polling in eastern UP was crucial for BJP’s hopes of a final push towards regaining power at the Centre.
large-scale violence and booth capturing marked the final phase of polling West Bengal. Of the 20 persons hurt in poll-related violence in the State, four are reported to have sustained serious injuries at Haroa in Basirhat constituency of North 24 Parganas, some 40 kms from Kolkata where alleged Trinamool musclemen hurled bombs and fired at left voters who were going to vote braving threats. The attacks were led by local MlA Usaharani Mandal and her husband, the villagers said. The police arrested 12 people, SDPO Abhijeet Banerjee said.
In another incident reported from North Kolkata, alleged Trinamool miscreants hurled a bomb at BJP leader and former Kolkata Deputy Mayor Meena Devi Purohit even as she escaped the attack by a whisker.At Kamduni -- which hit national headlines after a rape and murder case allegedly by a ruling party goon -- an entire booth was captured and mediapersons were attacked when they were trying film the incident.
Reacting to the continued violence singer and BJP candidate from Asansol Babul Supriyo said, “The Chief Minister, who is also the Home Minister, cannot evade her responsibility.” The elections would not reflect the true impression of the people, he added.
Reports of booth capturing and bloody attacks poured from Pingla in Ghatal, Vishnupur in Diamond Habour seat, Jivantala in Joynagar constituency where Trinamool leader Farak Mollah was seen pressing the button on behalf of the voters, Bhangore in Jadavpur constituency, Keshpur, Dum Dum where a pregnant woman had to be hospitalised after being beaten up by the miscreants, Duttapukur in Barrackpore seat where an SFI leader Chandan Das was shoved into a boiling pan of oil, Canning, Sandesh Khali, Beliaghata in North Kolkata, Tiljala and Kasba in South Kolkata.
At Ramnagar in Contai constituency a CPF jawan was allegedly stabbed by a Trinamool goon and at Salt lake in Barasat seat BJP candidate PC Sorcar was heckled by the ruling party workers when he went to inspect a booth allegedly captured by the miscreants. Similar scenes were witnessed at Naihati, Bijpur and Shyamnagar in North 24 Parganas. At Shyamnagar the CPF reportedly fired three rounds in the air sources said, adding about 80 booths were captured in Rajarhaat and Dum Dum area.In Bhangore Assembly segments more than 80 percent booths did not have opposition polling agents, sources complained.
“Our party has demanded re-polling at 800 booths in the 17 constituencies,” CPI(M) candidate from Jadavpur Sujan Chakrabarty said while BJP candidate from North Kolkata Rahul Sinha said, “The Trinamool has literally captured all the booths in all constituencies as they are afraid of losing the polls.”
“It seems that the Election Commission played the flute while Bengal burnt,” said Congress leader JP Majumdar, while CPI(M) candidate Rupa Bagchi said the Commission seemed to blindly follow the Gandhian principle of “see no evil, listen to no evil and think no evil, notwithstanding we kept SMSing complaints repeatedly.”
Prominent candidates in West Bengal included TMC’s Sudip Bandyopadhyay in Kolkata North, Dinesh Trivedi in Barrackpore and Sougata Roy in Dum Dum, besides film stars like Dipak Adhikari (Dev) in Ghatal and Tapas Paul in Krishnagar, Trinamool Yuva President Abhishek Banerjee, nephew of Mamata Banerjee, in Diamond Harbour, magician PC Sorcar (Junior) of BJP in Barasat, WBPCC president Adhir Chowdhury in Berhampore and CPI(M)’s Subhasini Ali from Barrackpore. Also contesting was former Finance Minister Asim Dasgupta of the CPI-M and former Union minister Tapan Sikdar of BJP in Dum Dum.
In Bihar, the turnout on Monday was over 12 per cent higher in these seats as compared to the 2009 general elections where the voters braved scorching sun and came out in large number in the six constituencies in the state where film-maker Prakash Jha and former Union Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh were among the 90 candidates.