Kolkata, June 1 (IANS): The trend of high turnout in the six phases of Lok Sabha elections in West Bengal so far was reversed in the seventh and last phase of polls for nine constituencies with the polling percentage being recorded at 69.89 per cent till 5 p.m. - the lowest so far.

Sources from the office of the Chief Electoral Officer said that this is the first time in the seven-phase polls that the polling percentage till 5 p.m. has come below 70 per cent.

However, despite this low turnout compared to the previous six phases, the polling percentage recorded till 5 pm was still higher than the national average of 58.38 per cent recorded during the same period.

Although the polling concluded at 6 p.m. amid reports of tension and violence from different pockets throughout the state, the final percentage will only be available on Sunday morning after the final calculations.

Political observers point out that besides the regular complaints of clashes between the supporters of rival political parties, and intimidation of voters and polling agents, a completely new trend of election-related irregularity has been witnessed in the sixth and seventh phases. The trend is obstructing and chasing the opposition candidates whenever they approach any polling booth.

The trend started surfacing from the sixth phase on May 25 and it took a nasty shape in the seventh phase. The BJP candidates, who faced such obstruction and chases by ruling Trinamool Congress activists include Tapas Roy in Kolkata Uttar, Abhijit Das in Diamond Harbour, Debasree Chowdhury in Kolkata Dakshin, and Rekha Patra in Basirhat.

Even prominent CPI-M candidates like Sujan Chakraborty in Dum Dum and Srijan Bhattacharya from Jadavpur faced the same experience.

On the other hand, in certain places, the reverse occurred with opposition candidates dragging out or chasing away false voters or fake polling agents from the polling booths. Of the nine Lok Sabha constituencies in the final phase, Basirhat recorded the highest polling percentage at 76.56 and Kolkata-Uttar the lowest at 59.23.