E ighty per cent of voters exercised their franchise in the threetier Panchayat election which was held on Saturday. The polling which had started at 7 a.m ended at 5pm and the poll percentage was 66.28 per cent, the State Election Commission had said yesterday.

However, the poll percentage went up by 14 per cent, taking the total to 80 per cent as those who had been waiting in the queue after 5pm were allowed to cast their vote. Meanwhile. the Governor AC Ananda Bose left for Delhi to submit a report to the Home Ministry. Mr Bose had visited several places on Saturday during the polling and talked to the voters.

He had told them to cast their votes without any fear. He also received many telephone calls from people who had alleged that they were prevented from casting their votes. According to the SEC, voting percentage in Alipurduar was 78.46 per cent.

The poll percentage in Bankura, Birbhum, Cooch Behar and South Dinajpur was 83.05, 83.20,78.37 and 59.13 per cent respectively. In North Dinajpur it was 79.59. per cent, South 24-Parganas 81.44 per cent, Purulia 81.37 per cent, East Midnapore 83.14 per cent, and East Burdwan 80.05 per cent. In West Burdwan the poll percentage was 72.51, while in North 24-Parganas and Nadia it was 80.49 and 80.88 per cent respectively.

In Kalimpong, it was 67.21 per cent, Murshidabad 80.78 per cent and Malda 79.37 per cent. Birbhum had recorded 83.20 per cent polling which is highest in the state. This is for the first time since 2011, polling was held in the district without the presence of Trinamul Congress strongman Anubrata Mondal, who is now in Tihar jail.

East Midnapore, the stronghold of Suvendu Adhikari had recorded 83.14 per cent polling. South Dinajpur recorded 59.13 per cent polling, which is lowest in the state. Political observers said the turnout of women voters was remarkable across the state and Trinamul Congress is heavily banking on them.

The panchayat election has once again exposed the organisational weakness of the CPI-M, Congress, BJP and ISF. While polling was peaceful in many areas, electionrelated violence took place in some locations, leading to at least 15 deaths