Amid violence, Bengal's Cooch Behar records 33.63 pc polling in 1st four hours

Kolkata, April 19 (IANS) A very high voter turnout of 33.56 per cent was recorded in the first four hours of polling till 11 a.m. in the three Lok Sabha constituencies of Cooch Behar, Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar in the first phase of polls on Friday.

Till 11 a.m., the maximum polling has been recorded from Alipurduar at 34.2 per cent, followed by Cooch Behar at 33.63 per cent and Jalpaiguri at 31.94 per cent, as per the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of West Bengal.

During the same period, a total of 151 complaints have been registered with the office of CEO Ariz Aftab. The majority of the complaints have been reported from Cooch Behar, which has witnessed clashes between the Trinamool Congress and BJP supporters.

Though with lesser aggression than it was during the first two hours, reports of poll-related violence kept on coming to the CEO's office till 11 a.m. One such case was reported from the Sitalkuchi area under Cooch Behar, where BJP and Trinamool Congress supporters got engaged in a major scuffle among themselves within a polling station. Some supporters from both sides received injuries following the clashes.

Even a telephone call came from ECI's headquarters to the office of the CEO enquiring about the action taken to ensure peaceful polls, especially in Cooch Behar.

One voter, who came to the polling station along with his mother, received injuries in one of his eyes following stone-pelting between two rival groups.

The voters there alleged that although there are enough central forces deployed at the polling booths, they are not seen outside the polling premises where the maximum trouble is taking place.

A maximum of 112 companies were deployed in Cooch Behar on Friday.