West Bengal had a voter turnout of 79.79 percent and Assam had a voter turnout of 72.14 percent in the first phase of assembly elections in these states before 5 p.m. on Saturday, according to the Election Commission.
In its bid for a third term in Bengal, the Trinamul faces a tough challenge from the BJP. The BJP is aiming to secure a second term in Assam, with Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal the most prominent candidate on Saturday’s vote.
In the first round, voting took place in 30 assembly constituencies in West Bengal and 47 seats in Assam, with a total of 21,825 polling stations.
Owing to the pandemic, polling stations in both states opened at 7 a.m. and closing hours were delayed by an hour.
West Bengal used 10288 Ballot Units (BUs), Control Units (CUs), and VVPATs during the election, while Assam used 11,537 BUs, CUs, and 37 VVPATs. On VVPAT, one control unit and at least one ballot unit create an EVM.
“The incidence of non-functioning during the survey is lower than in previous surveys,” an EC statement said, without elaborating.
On Saturday, the cVIGIL app received 167 reports of Model Code of Conduct violations from West Bengal, with 111 of them being resolved by 4.30 p.m.
Mamata Banerjee, the Chief Minister of Bengal, responded angrily to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s two-day visit to Bangladesh, accusing him of attempting to sway voters in the state. “Why shouldn’t your visa be canceled?” Ms Banerjee asked, remembering an event prior to the 2019 Lok Sabha election in which a Bangladesh actor who attended a Trinamool rally had his visa revoked.
Throughout the day, the Trinamool Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party exchanged accusations of sponsoring abuse and vote-rigging. Soumendu Adhikari, the brother of ex-Trinamool MLA Suvendu Adhikari, whose switch to the BJP sparked a bitter feud with Ms. Banerjee last year, said he was targeted by Trinamool supporters in Contai. ‘My car was vandalized, and the driver was injured,’ he said.
