Polling picks up for Kolkata civic polls

Kolkata, April 18 (IANS) Amid reports of sporadic violence, polling for the 144-ward Kolkata Municipal Corporation on Saturday picked up as over 35 percent of voters exercised their franchise in the first four hours, an official said.

"Till 11 a.m., 35.20 percent of polling was registered. We have received reports of some sporadic incidents but no major incident has been reported. Polling so far has been largely peaceful," the official said.

There were reports of clashes between the activists of the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the CPI-M-led Left Front in several parts of the city.

Media persons also came under attack at a few places.

While the opposition claimed the polling was marred by violence with voters and threats and assaults to polling agents by the Trinamool Congress (TMC), the ruling party trashed the allegations.

"The KMC polls have been turned into a farce. Our voters are being threatened, polling agents have been assaulted and driven out," CPI-M leader Rabin Deb said.

TMC leader and Municipal Affairs Minister Firhad Hakim, however, rubbished the allegations.

"I would urge to all the people to come out and vote without any fear. The opposition is trying to create panic by shouting terror but not even a single bullet has been fired or a bomb exploded so far," Hakim said.

On the security front, nearly 30,000 police personnel and three companies of central paramilitary forces have been deployed while drones are being used for aerial surveillance for the first time.

A total of 3,742,019 voters, including 17.52 lakh women, are eligible to exercise their franchise across 4,704 polling stations to decide the political fate of 1,077 candidates in the fray.

The counting of votes is scheduled for April 28.

The voters’ lists for the first time includes 20 voters under the third gender category.