New Delhi: Widespread violence marred the sixth phase of Lok Sabha elections in West Bengal on Sunday. But despite the clashes, 80.16 per cent of the voters had exercised their franchise till 7 p.m. in eight constituencies spread across five districts which went to polls in the sixth phase. For the BJP, which is aiming to make it big in the state, the sixth phase is perhaps the most crucial as it includes four constituencies with a sizeable tribal population, a section the party has been targeting.
There was an unsubstantiated allegation from Mamata Banerjee: she claimed that supporters of the BJP and its ideological mentor, the RSS, may be entering the state disguised as central security personnel in order to influence voting. Bihar also witnessed violence and the BJP candidate from West Champaran, Sanjay Jaiswal, was allegedly held captive by villagers reportedly for inspecting a polling booth in his constituency. The police rescued Sanjay Jaiswal after he was held captive for three hours.
In the national capital, the Aam Aadmi Party alleged bogus voting and deletion of names from the voter list. Raghav Chadha, AAP candidate for the South Delhi constituency, accused the BJP workers of trying to cast “bogus votes” at a polling booth. Another complaint was several voters could not find their names in the voter list. All the seven Lok Sabha constituencies in the national capital went to the polls on Sunday. The sixth phase saw an overall voter turnout of 63.3 per cent, which was less than 65.67 per cent recorded in 2014 for the same seats, the Election Commission said on Sunday. The turnout was higher in Bihar and Madhya Pradesh and almost th`e same in Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand.