<span style="color: #222222;">In Assam and West Bengal, polling for the First Phase of Assembly Elections went off smoothly, today.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">The average voter turnout was registered at 72.30 per cent in Assam while it was 79.79 per cent in West Bengal till 6.50 P.M.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">There is no report of any untoward incident so far in both the states.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Chief Electoral officer of Assam Nitin Khare told reporters that the polling in the state is by and large peaceful.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">AIR Kolkata correspondent reports that the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) is being used along with Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) at every Polling Station, with a view to enhance the transparency and credibility of the election process.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Barring a few stray incidents, polling was by and large peaceful in all 30 constituencies spread over 5 districts- Purulia, Bankura, Jhargram, East and West Medinipur.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">While polling was over for Purulia and Jhargram today, the remaining seats of the three districts will be held in the second phase. </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Elaborate security arrangements had been made to ensure free, fair and peaceful polling and to keep the entire polling process free from violence.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">A total of 730 companies of central forces had been deployed in this phase.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Chief Electoral Officer of West Bengal Ariz Aftab has said that 10 persons had been arrested in three separate incidents today.</span><br />''  <br />