Kolkata: The polling for first phase of the West Bengal Assembly polls for 152 constituencies in 16 districts of the state had concluded at 6 p.m. on Thursday, with the record polling percentage in the last 15 years already surpassed by 5 p.m., nearly an hour before the official time of conclusion of the polling process.
Since at 6 p.m. queues of voters were there at certain polling booths in the state.
The Office of the West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) was able to provide the polling percentage till 5 p.m.
The final polling percentage is expected to be calculated and announced on Friday.
The polling percentage recorded till 5 p.m. on Thursday was 89.93, the record percentage in the last 15 years in West Bengal since 2011, the year which marked the end of the previous 34-year Left Front government and the beginning of the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress government in the state.
In the six-phase 2011 West Bengal Assembly polls, the average polling percentage so far was the highest in the last 15 years at 84.33 per cent.
In the last seven-phase Lok Sabha election in 2024 in West Bengal, the average polling percentage was 79.8.
However, all those polling records were broken on Thursday at 5 p.m.
An insider from the CEO’s office said that once the final polling percentage on Thursday is available, the figure will likely cross 90 per cent.
Assembly-wise, the highest polling percentage till 5 p.m. had been recorded at Samserganj in Murshidabad district at 95.34 per cent.
District-wise, the highest polling percentage till 5 p.m. had been recorded at South Dinajpur at 93.12 per cent and the lowest at the hill-district of Kalimpong at 81.98 per cent.
Barring some stray events of tension and clashes, the polling process on Thursday was the most peaceful and violence-free after the 2011 Assembly polls in West Bengal.
The high polling percentage had made the Bharatiya Janata Party leadership elated, and it is claiming that this is a clear reflection of the anti-incumbency factor and hints towards a change in government in the state after 15 years.
In two of the campaign rallies in West Bengal for the second phase of polling on April 29, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday described the polling percentage as an indication of a victory against the incumbent Trinamool Congress government.
IANS
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