13.41 per cent polling till 9 am in 9 LS seats in Bengal

An estimated 13.41 per cent of the 1,49,63,064 voters exercised their franchise in nine Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal till 9 am on Sunday, an Election Commission official said.

Polling in the first two hours was peacefull, the official said.

"Polling till 9AM in the nine Lok Sabha constituencies is absolutely peaceful. We have received no complaints of any violence or any problem from anywhere in any of the polling booths in these constituencies. However, our officers are alert and ready to counter any untoward incident," a senior IPS officer told PTI.

Till 9 am, Jadavpur recorded the highest turnout with 17.11 per cent followed by Dum Dum 16.57 per cent, he said. Mathurapur (SC) witnessed 15.68 per cent, Basirhat 15.67 per cent, Barasat 14.78 per cent, Diamond Harbour 13.32 per cent followed by Kolkata Dakshin 11.92 per cent, Jaynagar, 11.43 per cent and Kolkata Uttar 11.08 per cent, the official said.

There were, however, reports of malfunctioning of EVMs from some polling stations.

"We are looking into that. Reserve EVMs are being sent to those polling centres where from we got reports of some machines not functioning properly. Polling there will soon start," the official added.

An electorate of 1,49,63,064 will decide the fate of 111 candidates in these nine seats -- Kolkata North and Kolkata South, Dum Dum, Barasat, Basirhat, Jadavpur, Diamond Harbour, Jaynagar (SC) and Mathurapur (SC).

Eight seats, barring Jadavpur, will witness a four- cornered contest between the Trinamool Congress, the BJP, the Congress and the Left Front.

A total of 710 companies of Central forces are being deployed by the Election Commission to cover 17,042 polling booths to ensure free and fair voting, officials said.

The nine constituencies are spread across the three districts of Kolkata, South and North 24 Parganas.