Date:19/04/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/04/19/stories/2006041903551300.htm

National

81 p.c. voting in first phase elections

Special Correspondent

No order for re-poll due to high turnout

High turnout due to security measures, confidence among voters

Elaborate revision of rolls, pleasant weather also contributed

KOLKATA: Close to 81 per cent turnout was recorded in the three districts of Paschim Medinipur, Bakura and Purulia in West Bengal that voted on Monday in the first phase of the five-phased Assembly polls in the State. No re-poll order has been issued on account of the high polling percentage.

Confidence among voters, for which the elaborate security arrangements made could be largely responsible, was among the reasons cited for the high turnout. The polling percentage surpassed 80 per cent in 5,460 of the 7,911 polling stations, Debashis Sen, State Chief Electoral Officer, said here on Tuesday.

Apart from the confidence-building measures, elaborate revision of electoral rolls and pleasant weather had contributed to the high turnout, Mr. Sen said.

Documents scrutinised

Relevant documents were scrutinised during the day in the three districts by the returning officers and election observers where the polling percentage exceeded 80 per cent, he said. Re-poll had been ordered at two booths in Jhalda in Purulia where the electronic voting machines developed faults, he added. The turnout is six percent than in the 2001 elections.

Mr. Sen said there were reports of more than 90 per cent polling in some booths. He had also heard of 100 per cent polling in one booth. The Left Front committee, earlier in the day, said it would be forced to oppose any decision for a re-poll on account of the high turnout since there were no complaints of electoral malpractice from either presiding officers or returning officers. "The polling percentage was expected to be high this time because of the special efforts of the Commission to delete the names of the dead and absentees," it said.