Polling for three Lok Sabha constituencies in West Bengal in the second phase of parliamentary elections was peaceful with a voter turnout of over 72 per cent registered till 5 PM on Friday, an EC official said.

Voting for Darjeeling, Balurghat, and Raiganj constituencies started at 7 AM and continued till 6 PM, he said.

Till 5 PM, Balurghat recorded the highest polling percentage at 72.30 per cent, followed by Raiganj at 71.87 per cent and Darjeeling at 71.41 per cent, the Election Commission official said.

Sources suggest the turnout may increase further as long queues were observed outside polling booths even after 6 PM.

West Bengal recorded a voter turnout of nearly 82 per cent in the first phase of polling for three Lok Sabha seats Cooch Behar, Jalpaiguri, and Alipurduars on April 19.

"Today's polling was peaceful. There is no report of any untoward incident in the three parliamentary constituencies," he said.

The BJP had won all three seats in 2019.

During the last Lok Sabha polls, the turnout in Darjeeling, Balurghat, and Raiganj was 78 per cent, 83 per cent and 79.82 per cent, respectively.

Forty-seven candidates, including state BJP president Sukanta Majumdar, are in the fray in this phase, with 51.17 lakh people eligible to exercise their franchise.

A total of 272 companies, comprising 27,200 personnel of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs), along with 12,983 state policemen, have been deployed for the polls, the official added.

No major incident of political violence was reported in the three constituencies, but there were a few allegations from both the TMC and the BJP of "intimidating voters."

"The voter turnout in all three constituencies is over 70 per cent (average) and the maximum votes have been registered in Balurghat (72 per cent). We are certain that we will fare well in all three constituencies. Besides, the voter turnout also substantiates our statement," state minister and TMC leader Chandrima Bhattacharya said.

The BJP was hopeful of retaining all three seats and expressed satisfaction with the overall voting process.

"We remain optimistic about retaining all three seats. The TMC attempted to manipulate voters but failed to do so," said BJP spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya.

CPI(M) central committee member Samik Lahiri observed that despite attempts by TMC and BJP supporters to manipulate the polls, voters managed to cast their votes.

With the end of the second phase, elections in six Lok Sabha seats are over and the remaining 36 seats will go to poll in the remaining five phases.