40 percent polling in West Bengal in first four hours
In this phase polling is being held in four constituencies of Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, Cooch Behar and Alipurduar, all in north Bengal.
In Darjeeling the polling is nearly 40 percent in the first four hours while in Jalpaiguri district the balloting was 42 percent.
In Cooch Behar, where 42.5 percent polling was recorded, Forward Bloc alleged that Left Front agents were beaten up and in Dinhata a booth was captured by the ruling Trinamool Congress. The latter has rubbished the charge.
Among the seats going to polls on Thursday, eyes are on the contest in Darjeeling where the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) has been demanding a separate Gorkhaland state.
BJP had won the seat last time with Jaswant Singh, who has now been expelled from the party for contesting polls from Barmer against the wishes of the party, winning it in 2009.
There are a total of 47 candidates in the fray in this phase with an electorate of 60,14,258 voters.
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