Kolkata, May 5 (IANS): Nearly 62 percent of the electorate voted on Thursday in the first six hours in 25 constituencies in Cooch Behar and East Midnapore districts during the sixth and final phase of the West Bengal Assembly polls.
The balloting began at 7 a.m. in nine constituencies of Cooch Behar and 16 in East Midnapore.
The overall turnout at 1 pm was 61.88 percent, with East Midnapore recording 63.61 percent votes and Cooch Behar 58.81 percent, an Election Commission official said.
In the 51 erstwhile enclaves in Cooch Behar, over 9,000 enthusiastic voters, including three centenarians, voted for the first time since the country's Independence. It is a historic day for these first-time voters. It marks another leap in their absorption into India after nearly seven decades of stateless existence.
The enclaves were swapped with Bangladesh after the Land Boundary Agreement was implemented last year.
Thousands turned up in East Midnapore's over 4,000 disabled voter-friendly booths, aided by the Election Commission's special initiatives.
In East Midnapore's Moyna seat, the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) alleged that its polling agent's house was broken into and vandalised by Trinamool Congress supporters.
The Trinamool, in turn, accused the Congress of overwhelming several booths in Moyna constituency in the district. Five Trinamool workers were reportedly detained in the Assembly segment on the charge of intimidating voters.
