Kolkata: An estimated 76 per cent of the 11.3 million electorate voted in the second phase of assembly elections in West Bengal on Saturday, with exit polls predicting a huge win for the ruling Left Front for the seventh term.
This will disappoint a divided opposition, desperate to unseat the Left Front that has ruled since 1977.
The Election Commission said polling was peaceful for 66 seats in the districts of East Midnapore, Howrah, Hooghly and Nadia. East Midnapore recorded 60 per cent polling, it was 70 per cent in Howrah, 65 per cent in Nadia and 61 per cent in Hooghly. Polling, which started on a dull note, picked up as the day advanced and in many polling stations women outnumbered men.
The exit polls by two Bengali news channels predicted 48 to 50 of yesterday's 66 seats spread over Howrah, Hooghly, East Midnapore and Nadia going to the Left, which won 41 seats in 2001 as against 18 by Trinamool Congress and five by Congress.
The tally of the Trinamool Congress-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) combine would fall to a dozen while the Congress would get three to four seats, the exit polls said.
While Star-Ananda AC Nielsen survey predicted 50 for the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), which heads the Left Front, a newly launched Kolkata channel in a survey with ORG Marg gave the Marxists 48 wins.
The Left Front has 199 seats in the 294-member outgoing assembly. According to opinion polls, it is expected to up its tally vastly riding on the popularity of Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya.
As everywhere in West Bengal, the battle will be between the ruling Left Front led by the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) and the Trinamool Congress of Mamata Banerjee. The Congress is a force to reckon with in many areas, making the poll a three-cornered contest.
The election decides the fate of 348 aspirants, including 28 women candidates. Prominent candidates in the fray are state ministers Kiranmay Nanda, Probodh Chandra Sinha, Naren Dey, Pratyush Mukherjee, Pratim Chatterjee and five-time winner from Howrah Central Ambika Banerjee (Trinamool).
Barring a few incidents of Electronic Voting Machines malfunctioning and demonstrations by voters whose names were missing, the exercise was orderly in all constituencies.
In a freak incident, a Central Reserve Police Force soldier on poll duty in Howrah killed himself after his rifle went off accidentally.
A total of 507 companies of security forces, including central paramilitary personnel, were deployed in the four districts. Radio flying squads were on duty and extra forces were deputed on the Howrah Bridge and Vidyasagar Setu to check false voters from crossing over to Howrah district, police sources said.
