Phase-III turnout spike twice as big

In keeping with a trend this season, the state election office has reported a sharp spike in turnout in the final hour of polling on Thursday.

At an average of 7%, it's almost twice the surge seen in the first two phases of voting. The final tally sent by the Bengal CEO records a sharp rise after 5pm in the 62 assembly seats.

Burdwan recorded the biggest surge -of a whopping 8.15% -compared to the provisional tally taken at 5pm, an hour before voting ended for the day . After seeing a surge of around 3% in the first two rounds, the Election Commission had issued special directives to record the turnout till 5pm and then record the number of people still in queue.

North Kolkata recorded a spurt of 7.15%. Murshidabad and Nadia recorded spikes of 2.8% and 3.5%. On the day of the election, the 16 constituencies of Burdwan had recorded 78.26% voter turnout till 5pm. By the end of the day , the figure had jumped to 86.41%. In Kolkata, it was 57.05% till 5pm, which rose to 64.2% in the final tally . Jorasanko, however, recorded the lowest turnout (only 53.62%).

When asked about the spike, an EC official said, “This is a percentage taken at 5pm and voting continued for about an hour after that. The commission has taken certain steps where there is hardly any chance of false voting.Still, if we receive any complaints, we will look into them. The data is still being complied and once it reaches our office, we can run a check“.