Bengal defied the vagaries of nature. For the last 10 days, West Bengal had been devastated by floods. But the general elections to the 13^th Lok Sabha in the state showed on Sunday that the people here are different; if ever there was a political mass of voters in India, it is here. Braving the flooded areas in remote villages and journeys to polling booths, the people came out and voted; what is most important here_ and this statement is made consciously keeping in mind the events that have preceded elections in neighbouring states _ is that not a single gunshot was fired. That, even if the turnout was less than that of last year’s, was the singlemost important achievement of the Bengal voters this time. Bengal has yet again proved that it can set an example for the rest of the country.

However, in some areas like Hooghly, Bankura and Midnapore, the trinamool Congress-BJP combine did try and create some mischief and practically all the usual methods to provoke the Left Front cadres were employed. Without much effect though. Even party candidate Dilip Chakraborty was not spared in Krishnagar.

The chief electoral officer, Jahar Sarcar, made the most important statement at the end of the day on Sunday when he said that this had been the most peaceful elections ever in the state and that the turnout, at first estimates, was around 70 per cent, lower than that of the nearly 80 per cent last year. The left front leadership, addressing a press conference in the evening, congratulated the people of Bengal for the peaceful voting but at the same time gave concrete proff of Trianmool-BJP malpractices in some parts with torn ballot papers on display. The CPI(M) state secretary Anil Biswas said that there were many areas where people had come to vote in boats and this was proof again of the political consciousness of the people. However, the Front has asked for repolling in 87 booths where the Trinamool-BJP combine had disrupted the polling process. Chief Minister Jyoti Basu as well as police minister Buddadev Bhattacharya also said that the elections had been peaceful and that the results would go the Left Front way.

Election Commission office sources said that polling would be held in 167 booths on Tuesday where elections could not be held on Sunday because of waterlogging. Amajor feature of the elections in Calcutta was the use of the new electronic voting machine for the first time, which made polling easier as well as faster.