"Mamata is restless," says Cogress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury : An estimated 60 per cent took place by 1 pm ::: Charge and Counter Charge ;;;; While Mamata flays 'observers'; Suvendu says TMC chief is threatening Hindu voters

West Bengal records 40% turnout amid scattered incidents of violence

Over 61% voter turnout till 1 pm; 

Congress candidate from Behrampur, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury says, "... This is for the first time we are seeing that Mamata Banerjee has been going from one booth to another in her constituency. This is unprecedented. She seems restless. She is not confident of her victory...". 

All eyes are on Bhabanipur. 

Beneath the electoral fever lies a Bhabanipur that is, in effect, a palimpsest of post-Plassey Bengal. It was among the 55 villages — the Dihi Panchannagram — that the East India Company purchased in 1758 from Mir Jafar, a nascent suburb beyond the Maratha Ditch where kansari, teli, shankhari and goala settlers built a native identity on the fringes of the colonial capital from which Britain’s empire, stretching from Khyber Pass to Singapore, came to be ruled.

Till 11 AM, the state recorded an overall voter turnout of 39.97%

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Among the 142 seats voting today, Kolkata has 11 seats.

North 24 Parganas alone has 33, 

South 24 Parganas 31, Nadia 17, Howrah 16, Hooghly 18, while Purba Bardhaman has 16.  

"She (Mamata Banerjee) will lose, BJP will win. I have lead in seven wards, she will not get anything in ward No 77." BJP candidate from Bhabanipur Suvendu Adhikari told reporters exuding confidence. The ward no. 77 area includes mixed demographics. 

Ward No. 77 is a key area in the Bhabanipur constituency of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, bordered by Karl Marx Sarani, Diamond Harbour Road, Kavi Mohammad Iqbal Road, and Bhukailash Road. 

Bhabanipur has large sections of Marwaris, Gujaratis and Punjabis. The assembly segment where Suvendu is taking on Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also has about 33 per cent of Muslim population. 

Mamata Banerjee has accused the BJP of rigging and slammed Election Commission observers, calling them 'terrorists'.  In response, Suvendu Adhikari alleged that she was moving with 'goonda elements' to intimidate voters and claimed Hindu voters were being threatened during polling in Bhabanipur, escalating political tensions. 

Just before this concluding phase of polling, 1,468 names were added back to the state’s electoral roll on Tuesday, taking the total number of electors eligible for today’s voting to 3.22 crore. 

In the last supplementary list, ahead of the first phase of Assembly elections for 154 seats, 139 names had been included. 

After the adjudication process had marked out 27.10 lakh names for deletion due to “logical discrepancies”, the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) emerged as a highly politically sensitive issue this elections.

Voters Turnout 

1 Hoogly 43.12%
2 Howrah 39.45%
3 Kolkata North 38.39%
4 Kolkata South 36.78%
5 Naida 40.34%
6 North 24 Parganas 38.43%
7 Purba Bardaman 44.50%
9 South 24 Parganas 37.92% Unprecedented security arrangements and strict vigil of poll observers including cops and even encounter specialists from UP have left TMC stunned and aggrieved in many places.  

 In a major crackdown in Abhishek Banerjee's fiefdom, Diamond Harbour, the Election Commsiion has shunted out Sourav Hazra out of Falta and posted him to Purulia with immediate effect.

He has been replaced by Ramya Bhattacharya. 

The transfer of Hazra comes in the backdrop of allegations of 'non-cooperation' by him with EC-appointed police observer Ajay Pal Sharma, who faced protests by TMC workers during his visit to the residence of TMC candidate Jahangir Khan and his associates in the area since Monday night.