LS Polls 2014: 68% turnout in West Bengal till 2 pm, 33% in Bihar till noon

KOLKATA/PATNA: Voter turnout was nearly 68 per cent for nine seats in West Bengal till 2 pm and 33 per cent till noon for seven seats of Bihar in the seventh phase of the Lok Sabha elections today.

"On an average 67.34 per cent voters cast their votes in the first seven hours of polling," West Bengal Assistant CEO Amitjyoti Bhattacharya said in Kolkata.

Polling was being held in Howrah, Uluberia, Serampore, Hooghly, Arambagh, Burdwan(East), Burdwan-Durgapur, Bolpur and Birbhum.

A presiding officer was replaced at a polling station under Arambagh Parliamentary constituency on charges of partiality, Bhattacharya said.

Prominent persons in the fray are JD(U) President Sharad Yadav and BJP's Kirti Azad, who are among the 94 candidates in Bihar, and BJP's Bappi Lalhiri, journalist-turned-politician Chandan Mitra and actor George Baker, who are among the 87 nominees in West Bengal.

Trinamool Congress has fielded MPs Satabdi Roy, Kalyan Banerjee and Sultan Ahmed, besides Prasun Banerjee, a former India soccer player from the state.

In Bihar, 36 per cent polling was recorded at Madhepura constituency where JD(U) President Sharad Yadav was contesting, Madhubani 31 per cent, Jhanjharpur 30 per cent, Darbhanga 31 per cent, Samastipur 28 per cent, Begusarai 36 per cent and Khagaria 34.59 per cent till 12 noon, an Election Commission statement said here.

Sharad Yadav cast his vote at the Adarsh Madhya Vidyalaya.

In Darbhanga, a car in Kirti Azad's convoy was seized by the district administration in Benipur for not having requisite permission, police said.

There was some reports of minor friction between electors and officials over missing names in voters lists.

A 104-year-old man was assisted by his family to a booth in Madhubani for casting his vote.

A bypoll is also being held in Sahebpur Kamal Assembly seat following the resignation of former minister Parveen Amanullah's from the Nitish Kumar Cabinet.