76% vote in Bengal's mini-assembly polls, 51 held over plaints

KOLKATA: Bengal reported 76.5% voting till 5 pm on Sunday to elect 2,171 councillors across 108 municipalities, dubbed as the mini-assembly polls. The state poll body and police received around 1,000 complaints in which 51 people were arrested and another 787 taken in preventive custody.

Four BJP candidates were among those arrested for breaking 12 EVMs. The state election commission said among the 17,600 EVMs, around 82 had to be replaced.

Two cops were injured in bomb splinters as stray violence was reported from pockets - Dhulian in Murshidabad and Bhatpara and Kamarhati in North 24 Parganas. A BJP candidate was injured in Konnagar. Kamarhati remained on the edge all through the day, even eclipsing the traditional trouble spots like Titagarh, Barrackpore and North Dum Dum.

Bengal DGP Manoj Malaviya said the polls were peaceful, barring minor incidents.

BJP, however, has called a 6am-6pm bandh on Monday in protest. After a BJP delegation met the governor,

Raj Bhavan

asked state election commissioner Saurabh Das to brief governor

Jagdeep Dhankar

on the situation by 10am on Monday. Das should be "fully updated" on developments in the election process held on Sunday, which "prima facie indicates failure of democracy", a Raj Bhavan release said. Das did not speak to the media.

DGP Malaviya said, "We had clear instructions to ensure that people could cast their votes peacefully. That was done." The DGP said every complaint was attended to and there were no grievous injuries or fatalities. Responding to questions on police inaction, he said, "You have seen polls before with a significant number of (central) forces. You have seen the polls today. You can gauge the difference yourself."

For the Trinamool Congress, the polls will be a bid to consolidate its grip.

For the BJP, this polls will be a battle for survival. Little seems to have gone right for it in Bengal since May 2021.