Bengal Phase 4 voting: Over 75 per cent voter turnout till 5 pm; EC seeks report on attack at Dilip Ghosh's convoy

• Bengal recorded 75.66 per cent voter turnout till 5 pm. Berhampore 75.36 per cent; Krishnagar 77.29 per cent; Ranaghat 77.46 per cent; Burdwan East 77.36 per cent; Burdwan-Durgapur 75.02 per cent; Asansol: 69.43 per cent; Bolpur 77.77 per cent; Birbhum 75.45 per cent
  
• Bengal recorded 66.05 per cent voter turnout till 3 pm. Berhampore 65.57 per cent; Krishnagar 66.37 per cent; Ranaghat 66.18 per cent; Burdwan East 67.83 per cent; Burdwan-Durgapur 67.92 per cent; Asansol: 60.26 per cent; Bolpur 69.08 per cent; Birbhum 64.98 per cent

• Krishnagar: Trouble at Nakashioara's Bilkumari. BJP candidate Amrita Ray accompanies voters, who complained of intimidation by Trinamul workers, to the booth
  
• Ranaghat: Trinamul workers raise slogans against BJP candidate Jagannath Sarkar at Chakdah

• Krishnagar: Trinamul-BJP workers clash in Tehatta

• Mamata Banerjee accuses SS Ahluwalia, the BJP candidate from Asansol of threatening Trinamul leaders and paying bribes to voters
  
• Mamata Banerjee says, we caught them red-handed. Votes that were cast on the Trinamul symbol went to the BJP. We got the EVMs changed

• Berhampore: Bengal Congress lodges complaint with Election Commission on voter intimidation and booth capturing in Burwan and Salar

• BJP spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP Samik Bhattacharya says in the next phases of polls in South Bengal incidents of violence will increase since the Trinamul is getting frustrated

• A BSF personnel Mahinder Singh collapsed at booth number 203 in Birbhum's Murarai. He was declared dead on being taken to Rampurhat Medical College
  
• EC seeks report on attack on Dilip Ghosh's convoy. Action Taken Report to be submitted by 3pm. IG CRPF speaks with Ghosh
  
• Bengal recorded 51.87 per cent voter turnout till 1 pm. Berhampore 52.27 per cent; Krishnagar 49.72 per cent; Ranaghat 52.70 per cent; Burdwan East 55.87 per cent; Burdwan-Durgapur 50.30 per cent; Asansol: 49.55 per cent; Bolpur 54.81 per cent; Birbhum 49.63 per cent
  
• Stones pelted at Dilip Ghosh's convoy at Manteswar

• Burdwan Durgapur: Trinamul workers stop BJP candidate Dilip Ghosh's vehicle at Manteswar

• Stones pelted at Dilip Ghosh's convoy at Manteswar

• Bengal recorded 32.78 per cent voter turnout till 11 am. Berhampore 35.53 per cent; Krishnagar 32.59 per cent; Ranaghat 33.23 per cent; Burdwan East 33.82 per cent; Burdwan-Durgapur 31.41 per cent; Asansol: 29.99 per cent; Bolpur 35.22 per cent; Birbhum 30.45 per cent
• Burdwan East: Two injured in clash between two factions of Trinamul Congress in Galsi.
  
• Number of complaints received by the Election Commission in the first four hours is 1,088
  
• Birbhum: A BJP polling agent assaulted at a booth in a village in Hasan. Villagers chase a local Trinamul leader Ronny Sheikh.
  

• Asansol: BJP leader and former mayor of Asansol Jitendra Tiwari stopped from moving around the constituency

• Bengal recorded 15.24 per cent voter turnout till 9 am. Berhampore 16.97 per cent; Krishnagar 15.67 per cent; Ranaghat 15.31 per cent; Burdwan East 15.88 per cent; Burdwan Durgapur 14.08 per cent; Asansol 13.03 per cent; Bolpur 16.46 per cent; Birbhum 14.55 per cent

• Birbhum: Trinamul workers heckle Congress candidate Milton Rashid, at a booth in Bogtui village, where 12 people including women and children were burnt to death following the murder of a local Trinamul leader in March 2022.

• Krishnagar: Voters in a village in Chapra allege they were threatened and not allowed to vote.

• Krishnagar: CPM candidate SM Sadi took the villagers to the booth.

• In the first two hours of polling 492 complaints received by Election Commission

• Krishnagar: Mohua Maitra says, Election Commission not taking action on violations of model code of conduct. Polling is peaceful.

• Bolpur: Former Trinamul worker murdered in a village in Ketugram ahead of fourth phase polling. Trinamul blames CPM for the murder. Family alleges internal feud behind the murder.
• Bolpur: Three arrested in the Ketugram murder. Election Commission seeks report from the local police.
  
• Ketugram murder: A primary report sent to the ECI refers to the victim Mintu Sheikh's "old enmity" with unnamed persons.
  

• Krishnagar: CPM polling agent assaulted in a polling booth in Chapra's Baniakhali Primary School. CPM candidate SM Sadi with the help of central forces took him to the booth.
• Durgapur-Burdwan: BJP nominee Dilip Ghosh says, polling agents are not being allowed inside booths. Polling agents are secondary, voters should come out of their homes and vote, says Ghosh.
  

• Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury says, Congress polling agents not allowed inside three or four booths.

• Berhampore: We are trying to get their replacements, but the people are scared, says Adhir Chowdhury

In what is unfolding as a battle of prestige for individuals and parties in Bengal, the ongoing seven -phase Lok Sabha elections crosses the halfway mark on Monday with eight of the 42 parliamentary seats going to polls.

Eyeing a sixth straight term, the leader of the Congress in the outgoing Lok Sabha and the state party president, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, has vowed to quit politics if he loses this time. The Congress’ vote share plummeted to 15 per cent in the 2021 Assembly elections from the 46 per cent that Chowdhury had received in the previous Lok Sabha election.

Expelled from the Lok Sabha and investigations pending against her, this election for Trinamul’s Mahua Moitra is not just another outing at the hustings. Since her maiden entry to Parliament in 2019 till her expulsion in December 2023, Mahua was counted among the handful of serious critics of Narendra Modi and the BJP.

While the feisty Mahua emerged as a champion for the English-speaking liberals across India, there are those within and outside the Trinamul fold who would be happy not to see her return to the lower House. This election is more personal than political for Mahua.

Across the river in Burdwan, Dilip Ghosh, the former Bengal BJP president, the man who led from the front to take the BJP to its highest ever tally of 18 seats in the Lok Sabha from Bengal five years ago, has to prove his mettle in a new constituency. His opponent, Kirti Azad, a political lightweight, is, however, no rookie and has the Trinamul Congress machinery throwing its weight behind him. Last time, the Trinamul lost the seat by a mere 1,839 votes.

Then there is the CPM contesting in six of the eight Lok Sabha seats. In 2019, the CPM had finished a distant third in all the six seats with 7,32, 944 cumulative votes. The distance between the CPM and the BJP or the Trinamul, where either of the parties finished at the top is so huge, that even the most hardened party faithful does not pin much hope. Infighting within the Trinamul, resentment among the electorate over myriad corruption cases and the return of a chunk of the Muslim vote is what the CPM is banking on.

Campaigning at Barrackpore’s Amdanga on Sunday, chief minister Mamata Banerjee said boldly that the corruption charges will not stick to her or the Trinamul.

“BJP has collapsed after the first three phase. The stock market has crashed. Investors are pulling out (investment),” Mamata said. “Wait for the results. Modi’s days are over. He is losing his temper because he knows he is losing.”

Mohammad Salim, the CPM state secretary, asked voters to reach the polling booths before the Trinamul machinery rolls. “Before the third phase of polls we had demanded peaceful polls, the central poll panel took some strict steps. If the Trinamul tries to create trouble, before they hit the streets, go to the booths and cast your votes," he said.

State Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said he will be on the streets of Berhampore if the Trinamul tries to create trouble.

“The EC took some steps after we cautioned it. In the last election, there was trouble in 269 booths. This time, the situation has changed. Congress and Left workers are alert to foil any disturbance,” Chowdhury said.

Of the 15, 507 polling stations, the Election Commission has identified 3,647 as critical. There are around 596 companies of central forces in Bengal of which 578 will be deployed during Monday’s polling.

This is the first election in the two seats of Birbhum and Bolpur where voting is being held in the absence of Trinamul strongman Anubrata Mondal, now housed in Tihar jail for his alleged involvement in cattle smuggling. In both the Lok Sabha seats over 600 booths have been identified as critical.

Similarly, in Berhampore where Chowdhury is contesting against the Trinamul’s Yusuf Pathan, the retired cricketer, 558 of the 1,879 polling stations have been declared as critical.