As many as 79.79 per cent voters exercised their franchise in the first phase of polling in 30 Assembly seats in West Bengal on Saturday, while the turnout was a little over 77 per cent in Assam where 47 seats went to the polls in the first phase, as per the data released by the voter turnout app of the Election Commission of India. More than half of the 73-lakh electorate in Bengal's 30 Assembly constituencies have cast their ballot and sealed the fate of 191 candidates who were in the fray on the first day of the eight-phase elections in West Bengal, where five districts went to the polls on Saturday.

At least 21 female aspirants are contesting the elections in West Bengal, while 23 are in the fray in Assam. In Bengal, the serpentine queues showed people are aware of the importance of the crucial poll that is seeing a bitter battle between the ruling Trinamool Congress-led by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and the BJP that has pitched every high-profile leader into campaigning in West Bengal.