Kolkata: West Bengal recorded a voter turnout of 15.85 per cent till 10 am across 44 constituencies in five districts during the fourth phase of the state assembly polls, according to the Election Commission (EC).
The Cooch Behar Dakshin constituency in the state has witnessed the highest voting percentage with a voter turnout of 24.00 per cent till 9.45 am, while the Behala Paschim constituency witnessed the lowest voting percentage with a voter turnout of just seven per cent.
This phase of the elections will witness an intense battle between 373 candidates in 44 constituencies of the state across five districts - Cooch Behar, Alipurduar, South 24 Parganas, Howrah and Hooghly.
Among the 44 constituencies, nine are in Howrah, 10 in Hooghly, 11 in South 24 Parganas, five in Alipurduar and nine in Cooch Behar.
A total of 1,15,81,022 voters will participate in this phase, out of which 2,63,016 are first-time voters. The smallest constituency is Bally with 1,76,001 electorates whereas Chunchura is the biggest constituency with 3,13,701 electorates.<br>As many as 15,940 polling stations will be used, including 12,361 main and 3,579 auxiliary stations.
Security has been beefed up in all 44 constituencies with a total of 900 companies of security forces deployed to ensure a peaceful election.<br>Out of these, 140 companies of central forces are deployed in the nine Assembly seats in Howrah, 175 for Hooghly's 19 seats, 185 for South 24 Parganas' 11 seats, 105 in Alipurduar and 188 in the nine seats of Cooch Behar.
The fifth phase of the assembly elections will commence on April 17. Counting of votes will take place on May 2. (ANI)
