Calcutta, Apr 21 (PTI): A voter turnout of 40 per cent was reported in the first four hours up to 11am in the third phase of the West Bengal assembly elections on Thursday, in which 62 seats, including seven in north Calcutta, are up for grabs.

The initial turnout, for the first two hours up to 9 am, was around 18 per cent.

According to the 11am data, the highest voter turnout of 42.99 per cent was recorded in the 22 seats of Murshidabad district, while the lowest of 32.71 per cent was recorded in the metropolis. While the percentage changed, the trends were the same as in the early morning.

The voting percentage in 17 seats of Nadia district was 40.78 while in Burdwan it was 37.33. The overall average was 39.76 per cent.

Polling which began at 7am in 16,461 polling stations will go on till 6pm amidst a tight security cover by one lakh security personnel deployed to look after law and order.

Over 1.37 voters are eligible to exercise their franchise in this phase to elect their legislators from among 418 candidates, including 34 women.

Key candidates in this phase include Trinamul ministers Shashi Panja and Sadhan Pande, Bharatiya Janata Party national secretary Rahul Sinha, five-time Congress MLA Md Sohrab, CPI-M MLA Anisur Rahman and retired IPS officer Nazrul Islam.

The Election Commission has identified 3,401 hamlets in the phase as vulnerable.

Polling will be held in three more phases ending on May 5.