Around nine pct turnout recorded till 9 AM in Bengal

The seats which are in fray for the last phase include: Dum Dum, Barasat, Basirhat, Jaynagar, Mathurapur, Diamond Harbour, Jadavpur, Kolkata Dakshin and Kolkata Uttar.

According to Election Commission sources, the polling has been by and large peaceful and no untoward incident has been reported so far.

Widespread EVM snags have been reported from some booths of Basirhat, Diamond Harbour, North and South Kolkata LS constituencies.

Voting was also delayed in three booths at Nagerbazar area under DumDum Lok Sabha constituency of West Bengal.

With the Trinamool pointing out that BJP leader Mukul Roy being an 'outsider' should stay away from the areas where elections are taking place on Sunday, an Election Commission official said he will abide by the rules.

As per EC's Model Code of Conduct, all outsiders who do not belong to the constituency should not stay there after the end of the campaign.

Around 710 companies of central forces have been deployed for the last phase after the state witnessed violence in the previous phases of the polling.

Apart from general election observers and expenditure observers, the poll panel has for the first time deployed a special police observer and a special observer.

In another first, VVPAT are being used in all polling booths along with the EVMs, an Election Commission (EC) official said.

Law and order in this phase are being maintained by 450 Quick Response Teams (QRT) and the state police, Special Observer Ajay V Nayak said.

"We have made all the arrangements. This time, there are 100 per cent CAPF (central armed paramilitary force) coverage and the law and order is being maintained in the district police locations with the help of the QRTs and the state police," he informed.

Nayak said he, along with Special Police Observer Vivek Dubey, held a detailed review of the arrangements and have met all other observers, district officials, police commissioners and a team of central forces.

The Election Commission (EC) is taking extra careful measures for the last phase. Additional five per cent EVMs are there at every centre.

Electorate were seen in large number waiting for their turn at several booths, where polling is in progress. Women and first time voters also appeared excited to cast their votes.

Elders were also taken to booths by their family members and they were being facilitated there in exercising their franchise by polling personnel on duty. Polling is expected to gain momentum with progress of the day.

Meanwhile, ahead of the last phase, clashes broke out last night between the BJP and Trinamool Congress workers at Bhatpara, a constituency where Assembly bypoll is being held on Sunday.

Gunshots rang, bombs were hurled and two vehicles set on fire at Bhatpara, around 40 km from Kolkata, after a BJP leader was allegedly shot at in the area. Two cars parked in the area were also set ablaze.

Both parties blamed each other for the attack.

The ruling Trinamool Congress claimed outsiders were brought into the area by the BJP who were allegedly behind the violence. The two main contenders in the North 24 Parganas district are Madan Mitra of the Trinamool Congress and Pawan Singh of the BJP, son of BJP's Lok Sabha candidate from Barrackpore Arjun Singh.

Three years after his release from prison as an accused in the Saradha chit fund scam, Madan Mitra, a former minister in the Bengal government, was nominated by the Trinamool from Bhatpara.

Prominent candidates contesting the last phase Lok Sabha elections are former Union Minister of State for Urban Development in the Manmohan Singh government and sitting TMC MP Saugata Roy from Dumdum, sitting TMC MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar from Barasat, TMC celebrity candidate and Bengali film actress Nusrat Jahan from Basirhat, Trinamool youth congress president and sitting MP Abhishek Banerjee from Diamond Harbour, glamour girl of Bengali film industry & TMC candidate Mimi Chakraborty and former Kolkata Mayor and CPI(M) candidate from Jadavpur Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya, sitting TMC MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay and state BJP general secretary Rahul Sinha from Kolkata Uttar and State BJP vice-president and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s grandnephew Chandra Kumar Bose from Kolkata Dakshin.