Violence, EVM glitches mar third phase of LS polls in eastern,

A man was Tuesday hacked to death outside a polling booth in West Bengal, amid the third phase of Lok Sabha elections in 21 seats across across five eastern and north eastern states, officials said. Voting also took place in 42 assembly constituencies in Odisha, along with the Lok Sabha polls.

According to the latest data available from the Election Commission, an estimated 61 per cent polling was recorded in Odisha, 78.97 per cent in West Bengal, 80.74 per cent in Assam, 60 per cent in Bihar and 80.40 per cent in Tripura. In the third phase of the general elections, polling was held across six Lok Sabha seats in Odisha, four constituencies in Assam, five seats each in Bihar and West Bengal and a lone constituency in Tripura.

A group of men attacked 55-year-old Tiyarul Sheikh with sharp weapons, following an altercation, when he went to vote at a booth in Baligram Primary School under Bhagwangola police station limits in Murshidabad Lok Sabha constituency, police said. The Congress alleged that it was the handiwork of the Trinamool Congress, but the ruling party denied the charge.

Three other persons were also injured in the incident, sources in the CEO's office said in Kolkata. State CEO Ariz Aftab said though the political affiliation of the accused was not mentioned in the FIR, Sheikh's son Mehtab Hossain told reporters that TMC activists were behind the crime.

There were reports of clashes from Kushmundi in Balurghat constituency and Domkal in Murshidabad, too, Aftab said. The polling process was also briefly hampered with reports of EVM malfunctioning in some states, and the arrest of two polling agents of the ruling BJP in Tripura, an election official said.

Meanwhile, a polling official on duty at a booth under Parjang Assembly segment of Dhenkanal Lok Sabha constituency in Odisha, collapsed and later died, the official said. Among the prominent candidates in the fray in Odisha are BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra and Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee President Niranjan Patnaik, while in Bihar, former Union minister Sharad Yadav of the JD(U) and state minister Dinesh Chandra Yadav are contesting the polls.

The electoral battle in West Bengal for the third phase features sitting MPs and TMC candidates - Arpita Ghosh from Balurghat and Mausam Benazir Noor from Maldaha Uttar - Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee's son Abhijit from Jangipur and BJP's Humayun Kabir. In Assam, noteworthy among those in the fray are two sitting MPs AIUDF chief Badruddin Ajmal in Dhubri and Independent Naba Sarania in Kokrajhar - BPF candidate and state social welfare minister Pramila Rani from Kokrajhar and Congress MLA Abdul Khaleque from Barpeta.

The solitary East Tripura Lok Sabha seat is witnessing a contest between BJP candidate Rebati Mohan Tripura, sitting MP Jitendra Chowdhury of the CPI(M) and Pragya Dev Burman of the Congress..