Kolkata: The voter turnout in the recent West Bengal elections — the 14th in the State — was a record all-time high.

An average of 81.62 per cent votes were cast in the five-phase polls that began on April 17 and concluded on Monday. The size of the electorate was more than 48 million.

Confidence-building measures by the Election Commission and a perceptible growing political consciousness among people could be the two major reasons for this phenomenon, Chief Electoral Officer Debashis Sen told The Hindu on Wednesday.

The highest percentage recorded was 80.64 in 1996. In the present elections there has been an increase of more than six per cent from the 2001 polls. The lowest percentage was in 1962. It was 55.55 per cent.

"Steps taken by the Election Commission since October 2005, which included sending election observers to the State, successive visits to districts by teams to oversee the poll revision process and deployment of sufficient number of paramilitary forces at the time of made the voters to cast their votes in greater numbers. There was also a more proper enforcement of the measures laid down by the Commission," Mr. Sen said.

Nearly 600 companies of paramilitary forces were deployed during the polls.

The other reason for the high turnout could be "the trend noticeable since the last Assembly polls in which there has been an increase in voting percentage since 2001."

"From 75 per cent in 2001, it increased to 78 per cent in the Lok Sabha polls in 2004, to close to 82 per cent in the recent polls. This is an indication of the growing consciousness of the people of West Bengal," Mr. Sen added.

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