Click to play videoKolkata: West Bengal voted in the third phase of the Assembly polls on Thursday with 76 constituencies in Kolkata and adjoining areas going to polls. The voter turnout in the third phase was about 70 per cent.
Though polling began late in some areas due to technical problems with the electronic voting machines, it's was more or less peaceful.
But at a polling booth in the Salt Lake area, angry voters gheraoed Deputy Election Commissioner Anand Kumar when they found their names missing from the voter's list.
There are 485 candidates, including 38 women, in the third phase. Among the three districts that went to polls on Thursday, North 24 Parganas and South 24 Parganas have 28 seats each followed by 21 in Kolkata.
The first two phases on April 17 and 22 saw balloting in 111 constituencies covering West Midnapore, Bankura, Purulia, East Midnapore, Nadia, Howrah and Hooghly.
The five-phase election started on April 17 in West Bengal and comes to an end on May 8.
The total electorate in West Bengal is 48.9 million.
As many 21 lakh new names have been included in the electoral rolls ahead of polls this year.
And first time voters might well be the deciding factor in many a contest in Bengal.
Youngsters of Kolkata, voting for the first time, turned up to cast their votes early and exercised their franchise with great enthusiasm and pride, putting to rest doubts about the youth's interest in politics.
"To me election is a very important fact because in college also we have seen lot of craze about this election. So I don't think there is a lot of change. Actually I feel the young generation were interested and they are going to be interested in future regarding voting," a medical student, Sayantani Patra, said.
And they have big expectations from the party they voted for.
"We all expect the development of the country. As I am a member of the health sector I definitely want a development of the health sector," Patra said.
As many as 21 lakh new names have been included in the electoral rolls of Bengal ahead of the polls this year.
And considering the kind of enthusiasm that the first timers showed, they might well be the deciding factor in many a contest.
And the youth turning up in large number to cast their votes argues well for Indian democracy
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