Bengal polls: 78.25 percent turn out till 5 pm

Voting began at 7 am across 53 constituencies of South 24 Parganas, Kolkata south and Hooghly districts.

Over 1.2 crore voters were expected to exercise their franchise  at  more than 14,500 booths in the three districts of the state.

The total number of voters in 31 constituencies of South 24 Parganas district is approximately 72 lakhs, while that in 18 constituencies of Hoogly district is about 43 lakhs. The total number of voters in 4 constituencies of Kolkata Dakshin is 9 lakhs approximately.

Forty-three women out of 349 candidates were in the fray for phase 5 election to 53 Assembly Constituencies in three districts of West Bengal which witnessed a massive change in the political scenario last time in 2011 when Mamata Banerjee and her TMC came to power by removing the Left Front government. The Left-Front ruled the state for 34 years.

There are 26 female candidates in South 24 Parganas, 9 in Kolkata Dakshin and 8 in Hoogly district.

The main contest in the three districts are between the ruling  Trinamool Congress, Left-Front- Congress alliance and the BJP.

Fates of several important candidates, including Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, will be decided by voters across three districts of the politically crucial state.

Banerjee, who is contesting from  Bhawanipur constituency, is facing challenge from  Left Front-backed Congress nominee Deepa Dasmunshi and BJP's Chandra Kumar Bose.

Bose is the grand nephew of freedom fighter Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.

Apart from the CM, voters will also decide the fates of several state ministers like Panchayat minister Subrata Mukherjee, Kolkata Mayor Sovan Chatterjee and Urban Development minister Firhad Hakim,Education Minister Partha Chatterjee, Housing and Youth Affairs Minister Aroop Biswas, Power Minister Manish Gupta and Fire Service and Disaster Management Minister Javed Ahmed Khan  in this phase of the polls.

Mamata Banerjee cast her vote at Mitra Institution in south Kolkata.

A 90,000-strong contingent of central and state police forces have been deployed in three districts to ensure peaceful voting on Saturday.

Sporadic violence were reported from three districts where 186 people have been arrested.

"186 people have been arrested from three districts," a senior police official told IBNS.

Chief electoral officer (CEO) in West Bengal Sunil Gupta told media: "No poll boycott was reported today."

"Two presiding officers were removed in Hooghly," he said.

(Reporting by Deepayan Sinha)