Kolkata, Feb 12 (PTI) Polling for elections to municipal corporations of Bidhannagar, Asansol, Siliguri and Chandannagar in West Bengal remained “more or less peaceful”, and voter turnout of over 43 per cent was recorded in all civic bodies till 1 PM Saturday, an official said.
The voting for elections to the four civic bodies began at 7 AM.
“Polling is being held peacefully. No incident of violence has been reported. We have taken a note of some disturbances from these municipal corporation areas where outsiders were found standing in voters’ queue,” the senior official of the West Bengal State Election Commission said.
A voter turnout of 45.73 per cent was registered in Siliguri in till 1 PM, while the percentage in Chandannagar, Bidhannagar and Asansol were 43.72, 46.57 and 48.11 per cent respectively, he said.
Elaborate security arrangements have been made by the police in all the four municipal areas situated in different parts of the state for the peaceful conduct of the polls, he said.
Outsiders were detected in voters’ lines in two wards of Bidhannagar and one in Siliguri, the official said.
“The state police detained BJP candidates Subhasish Das and Biswajit Mondal in Siliguri for their alleged involvement in creating problems outside polling booths,” the official said.
Altogether, 203 candidates are contesting in 41 wards in Bidhannagar, while 200 are in the fray in 47 seats of the Siliguri civic body, as per the SEC website.
There are 120 aspirants for 33 wards in Chandannagar and 430 candidates are contesting in 106 wards in Asansol.
The counting of votes will be held on February 14.
In the 2015 elections, Siliguri was won by the Left Front, while the three other municipal corporations were secured by the TMC. Polls to these civic bodies, along with more than 100 others, had been postponed owing to the Covid-19 pandemic situation and are being governed by administrators.
