Kolkata, April 29 The polling for the second phase of the West Bengal Assembly polls for 142 constituencies in six districts and the state capital of Kolkata has officially concluded at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, with the polling percentage till 5 p.m. surpassing the figure for the same period in the first phase of polling for 152 constituencies on April 23.
The polling percentage till 5 p.m. on Wednesday was recorded at 89.99, which is marginally higher than the figure of 89.93 for the same period in the first phase of polling on April 23.
Since at 6 p.m., queues of voters were present at certain polling booths, the office of the Chief Electoral Officer, West Bengal, was able to provide the polling percentage till 5 p.m.
The final polling percentage might be calculated and announced later on Wednesday night or even Thursday morning.
In district-wise voting, till 5 p.m., East Burdwan district recorded the highest polling percentage at 92.46, followed by Hooghly district at 90.38, Nadia at 90.28, North 24 Parganas at 89.74, South 24 Parganas at 89.57, Howrah at 89.44, the electoral district of Kolkata (Uttar) at 87.77, and the electoral district of Kolkata (Dakshin) at 86.11.
According to the Election Commission of India’s statistics, the highest voter turnout in the second phase till 5 p.m. was in Harwa Assembly constituency in North 24 Parganas district at 94.5 per cent.
The lowest voter turnout was in Rajarhat-Gopalpur Assembly constituency in the same district, where the voter turnout till 5 p.m. was 82.18 per cent.
Bhabanipur Assembly constituency in South Kolkata, where the Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee, is pitted against the Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, saw 85.51 per cent voter turnout till 5 p.m.
Meanwhile, the Chief Electoral Officer, Manoj Kumar Agarwal, informed that the Election Commission of India is evaluating the possibilities of re-polling in two polling booths under Falta Assembly constituency in South 24 Parganas district, where the Electronic Voting Machine button beside the name and symbol of the Bharatiya Janata Party candidate was covered with white tape.
“The Election Commission of India had already sought the report from the general and police observers of the constituency in the matter, and the decision on re-polling will be taken by the Election Commission of India after evaluating the reports given by the observers,” the Chief Electoral Officer said, adding that if similar incidences of election malpractices come to the Commission in other booths, decisions for re-polling might be taken for those booths as well.
As per the Election Commission of India’s deployment plan for Central Armed Police Forces in West Bengal issued on March 19, 2026, after completion of polling on Wednesday, 700 companies of Central Armed Police Forces shall continue to remain deployed in the state for security arrangements and law and order duties, till further orders.
--IANS
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