Bengal third phase polls: 67.24 pc voter turnout recorded till 3:30 pm

In the strongly contested third phase of the West Bengal assembly polls, around 67.24 voter turnout was recorded till 3:30 pm on Tuesday.

The highest turnout among districts was recorded in Hooghly with 69.50 per cent, while Howrah and South 24 Parganas recorded 68.38 per cent and 65.59 per cent respectively.

Goghat recorded the highest voter turnout among all constituencies with 76.34 per cent, while Diamond Harbour recorded 66.40 per cent turnout and Joynagar recorded 64.20 per cent.

Earlier, a clash had erupted between Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers in Arambagh as voting for the third phase of West Bengal Assembly polls began at 7 am today.

The TMC candidate from Arambagh constituency Sujata Mondal Khan accused BJP workers of threatening and misbehaving with women voters in the Arandi area.

There are 205 candidates in the fray in this round of polling. However, when it comes to women representation, there are only 13 women candidates contesting in this phase, merely six per cent.

A total of 832 compes of central security forces have been deployed in the constituencies to ensure a peaceful election.

Out of these, 214 compes of Quick Response Teams (QRTs) is present in the third phase. The voting in this phase of elections is being held in 31 Assembly constituencies in three districts - eight in Hooghly, seven in Howrah and 16 in South 24 Parganas.

Polling for the first two phases of the West Bengal elections were held on March 27 and April 1 respectively. The fourth phase of polling will take place on April 10. The counting of votes will take place on May 2.

( With inputs from ANI )