West Bengal’s seven constituencies voted in the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha elections on May 20. Arambag, Bangaon, Barrackpore, Howrah, Hooghly, Serampore and Uluberia went for polls.
Among the key candidates were TMC’s Rachana Banerjee and BJP’s Locket Chatterjee in Hooghly, TMC’s Partha Bhowmick and BJP’s Arjun Singh in Barrackpore, BJP’s Rathin Chakraborty and TMC’s Prasoon Banerjee in Howrah and TMC’s Kalyan Banerjee in Serampore. Bangaon, a constituency reserved for Scheduled Castes, had the highest number of candidates at 15, while Arambagh (also SC-reserved) had the lowest at 10. There were 13,481 polling centres in the fifth phase.
After sporadic violence was reported during the fourth phase, the Election Commission increased the deployment of central forces in the fifth phase. As many as 57.19 per cent of the booths in this phase have been identified as sensitive.
The first four rounds of the Lok Sabha elections were held on April 19, 26, May 7 and 13. Voting for the last two phases will be conducted on May 25 and June 1. Voting will begin at 7 am and end at 6 pm.
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06: 25 pm:West Bengal saw a voter turnout of 73 per cent by 5 pm in the fifth phase of Lok Sabha polls.
04:10 pm:An average voter turnout of 62.72 per cent was recorded till 3 pm on Monday in seven Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal as voting was underway for the fifth and final phase of general elections in the state.
03:30 pm:TMC workers showed black flag to BJP candidate from Barrackpore Lok Sabha seat, Arjun Singh. "It was pre-planned. This protest has been staged to loot the (polling) booths. I will not go from here," said Arjun Singh.
02:00 pm:As at 1 pm, West Bengal saw a voter turnout of 48.41 per cent.
12:40 pm:An argument broke out between BJP MP and candidate from Hooghly, Locket Chatterjee and a person who was claiming to be a polling agent, at a polling station in Dasghara High School under Hooghly Lok Sabha Constituency.
Locket Chatterjee alleged that he was a TMC agent. She later took that person out of the polling station. "He was a TMC agent and does not have any documents. He went inside the booth and kept asking people to vote for TMC. Police are not doing anything...," said Chatterjee.
12:00 pm: As at 11 am, West Bengal saw the highest voter turnout among all the states polling in the fifth phase. The state saw a voter turnout of 32.70 per cent.
10:30 am:An argument erupted between BJP candidate from Barrackpore Lok Sabha seat Arjun Singh and a TMC worker in North 24 Parganas.
Arjun Singh alleged that TMC workers are not letting people come out of their houses to cast their votes for the fifth phase of Lok Sabha elections. "Women voters are being stopped. The police are not doing anything. People are being stopped from voting. I have complained about this to the State Election Commission," he said.
10:00 am: A voter turnout of 15.35 per cent was recorded till 9 am in West Bengal, which happens to be the highest among all states polling in the fifth phase of Lok Sabha elections.The Uluberia parliamentary constituency registered the highest polling at 17.25 per cent, followed by Arambag (SC) at 16.38 per cent, Howrah (15.20 per cent), Bangaon (SC) at 15.19 per cent, Barrackpore (15.08 per cent),Serampore (14.43 per cent) and Hooghly (14.01 per cent).
09:30 am:The Election Commission on Monday removed a BSF jawan from poll duty in Uluberia Lok Sabha constituency following a complaint of molestation against him, news agencyPTI quoted an official as saying.
A woman lodged the molestation complaint at Uluberia Police Station on Sunday evening, he said. “We have removed him from election duty. We are waiting for the police report. If found guilty, necessary action will be taken as per law,” the poll panel official told PTI.
09:00 am:The fifth phase polling on Monday will be a reaffirmation of the lotus "blooming" in West Bengal as the BJP is set to wrest the highest number of seats in the state, Union Minister Jitendra Singh has said. Singh also asked voters to ensure they exercise their franchise.
08:25 am:BJP MP and candidate from Hooghly, Locket Chatterjee, said, "Everything is going on fine. There were threats at 2-3 places. EVM machines are not working at a few locations but work is going on those... I am here at Dhaniakhali and the situation is good...Voting is being done against corruption... We hope that the Election Commission (EC) will have a free and fair election here."
7 am: Voting begins across seven Lok Sabha seats.
