Bengal begins voting for 3 Lok Sabha seats with tight security

Tension Reported in Cooch Behar Constituency Within First 30 Minutes of Polling

Kolkata: Polling for Cooch Behar, Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal started on Friday morning under tight security cover.

However, in the first 30 minutes since the polling began, reports of tension had started surfacing from certain pockets in the Cooch Behar constituency, which is under the scanner of the Election Commission of India.

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Voters were seen lining up in front of the polling booth in all three constituencies in the early hours.

Interacting with the media persons, early voters said that the two reasons that prompted them to reach polling stations early were to avoid the heat as well as the long queues in the latter part of the day.

The polling began with a tragedy at Mathabhanga in Cooch Behar district, where a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawan, who was admitted to a hospital, died early Friday morning. The said jawan, identified as Nilesh Kumar Nilu (42), was admitted to a local hospital on Thursday night after he complained of uneasiness. He was a resident of Bihar.

Governor C.V. Ananda Bose on Friday told media persons that he will be keeping a watch on the developments throughout the day from the Peace Room within the premises of the Raj Bhavan in Kolkata.

Polling is continuing in 2,043 booths at Cooch Behar, 1,867 in Alipurduar and 1,904 in Jalpaiguri.