Kolkata, May 13 (IANS): Amid reports of poll-related tension and violence coming in from different parts of the state, the voter turnout for the eight Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal where polling is being held on Monday is picking up pace as the say progresses.
The state reported a poll percentage of 66.05 per cent till 3 p.m., with Bolpur leading the tally with a 69.08 per cent turnout, followed by Bardhaman-Durgapur (67.92 per cent), Bardhaman Purba (67.83 per cent), Krishnanagar (66.37 per cent), Ranaghat (66.18 per cent), Baharampur (65.57 per cent), Birbhum (64.98), and Asansol at 60.26 per cent.
Till 3 p.m., as many as 1,750 complaints were lodged with the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), with the maximum filed by the CPI-M at 153, followed by Congress at 79, BJP at 26, while the Trinamool Congress filed three complaints.
Poll-related violence continued in the state with an attack on the convoy of the BJP candidate from Bardhaman-Durgapur, Dilip Ghosh, at Kalna in East Burdwan district.
The glass window of one of the vehicles in the convoy was smashed in the attack allegedly perpetrated by the Trinamool Congress workers, which left two persons in Ghosh’s security team injured.
At Salar in Baharampur Lok Sabha constituency, the presiding officer of a polling booth was replaced following complaints filed against him by the Congress for allowing Trinamool workers to influence the voters.
In another incident, a CAPF jawan on poll duty at a booth in Birbhum died after falling unconscious. He was shifted to the Rampurhat Medical College and Hospital, where the doctors declared him brought dead.
The doctors suspect cardiac arrest as the cause of death.
Earlier, there was tension in front of a booth at Nanur in Birbhum district with the BJP alleging forceful eviction of its polling agent from the booth by Trinamool workers.
The BJP also alleged that armed ruling party workers were threatening the voters since Monday morning.
At Suri, a temporary camp office of the BJP was allegedly demolished by Trinamool supporters.