Kolkata, April 30 (IANS) The polling percentage in the second phase of elections for 142 Assembly constituencies in West Bengal on April 29 has been recorded at 92.47 till midnight, thus taking the overall average percentage in the two phases to a record high of 92.85.

However, as clarified by insiders from the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), West Bengal, on Thursday morning, neither of these figures is final as tabulation will be available later in the day.

The polling percentage figure in the second phase of polls till midnight Wednesday is marginally lower than the figure of 92.88 till midnight of April 23, when the first phase of polls for 152 Assembly constituencies took place.

Nationally, the previous record of the highest polling percentage was recorded in Tripura in 2013, when the figure was recorded at 91.82 per cent.

The average polling percentage in the two phases at 92.85 is also a record high in West Bengal.

In West Bengal, the previous record of polling percentage was in the 2011 Assembly elections, the year which marked the end of the previous 34-year Left Front regime in the state and the beginning of the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress regime.

In the six-phase 2011 West Bengal Assembly polls, the average polling percentage was the highest in 15 years at 84.33 per cent, till it was broken this time.

Incidentally, the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), Gyanesh Kumar, has already congratulated the people of West Bengal for participating in the polling process in record numbers in both phases, first on April 23 and then on Wednesday.

“Highest ever percentage of polling in West Bengal in both Phase I & II since Independence – ECI congratulates each voter of West Bengal on this historic feat,” a statement issued by the Election Commission of India, quoting Kumar, had read.

“One major reason behind the high polling percentage was that the polling was conducted after the deduction of absent, missing, shifted and duplicate voters from the voters’ list. In simple terms and to put it lightly, the polling this time was done with a voters’ list of pure milk minus the dilution by mixing water,” the CEO’s office insider said.

–IANS

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