9:00 PM: First phase of West Bengal and Assam polls witnesses 79.79 per cent and 72.14 per cent voter turnout, respectively: Election Commission of India

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4:40 PM: 62.36% and 70.17% voter turnout recorded till 4 pm, in the first phase of polling in Assam and West Bengal Assembly elections, respectively: Election Commission of India.

3:15 PM: Mamata Banerjee takes swipe at PM Narendra Modi.

2:10 PM: 45.24% and 54.90% voter turnout recorded till 2 pm, in the first phase of polling in Assam and West Bengal Assembly elections, respectively: Election Commission of India.

1:15 PM: 37.06% and 40.73% voter turnout recorded till 1 pm, in the first phase of polling in Assam and West Bengal Assembly elections, respectively: Election Commission of India.

12: 30 PM:"West Bengal recorded 36.09 per cent turnout and Assam saw 25.88 per cent voting till 11AM, reported PTI 

12:10 PM: West Bengal BJP President Dilip Ghosh casts his vote at a polling booth in Jhargram in the first phase of state assembly elections.

11: 40 AM: TMC knows that it is losing & that's why it is saying all this. For such complaints, TMC should go to the Election Commission. TMC & Mamata Banerjee are under pressure and that is why they are saying such things: BJP West Bengal Pres Dilip Ghosh told ANI on TMC alleging rigging of polls

11: 10 AM: Assam CM says party will get 100 seats 

10: 55 AM: A delegation of Trinamool Congress (TMC) will meet the West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) at 12 noon on Saturday to raise `some serious concerns`, as polling for the first phase of state assembly elections is underway. Taking to Twitter, the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) questioned the Election Commission of India (ECI) on how the voting percentage reduced drastically to half within five minutes. "What is happening @ECISVEEP?! Could you explain how voting percentage drastically reduced to half within a gap of just 5 minutes?! Shocking! @CEOWestBengal, please look into this urgently!" AITC tweeted.

10:10: AM SporadicIncidents of violence were reported from some areas that are voting in the first phase of the assembly elections in West Bengal on Saturday, even as the overall poll situation was peaceful with 14.28 per cent turnout recorded till 9 am, said news agency PTI quoting officials.

9: 20 AM: 8.84% and 7.72% voter turnout recorded till 9 am, in the first phase of polling in Assam and West Bengal Assembly elections, respectively: Election Commission of India

9:15 AM:As the polling for first of the eight-phase assembly polls in West Bengal began on Saturday morning, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee called upon people of the state to vote in large number. "I call upon the people of Bengal to exercise their democratic right by coming out and voting in large numbers," Mamata tweeted.

8:55 AM: As polling for the first phase of assembly elections in West Bengal and Assam began on Saturday morning, Union Home Minister Amit Shah urged citizens to vote fearlessly for the development of the states. On the West Bengal elections, Shah tweeted: "I appeal to voters of the first phase to vote in record numbers fearlessly to restore the pride of Bengal.
""Your one vote will create Bengal as imagined by great men like Subhash Chandra Bose, Gurudev Tagore and Shyama Prasad Mukherjee," he added.

8: 30 AM:  Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national president JP Nadda has urged voters to come out in record numbers and "participate in the festival of democracy" by exercising their right to vote in the first phase of assembly elections in West Bengal and Assam which began on Saturday morning. Taking to Twitter, Nadda also asked voters to take precautions against COVID-19.
"Today is the first phase of polling in the West Bengal assembly elections. Your vote will decide the future for you and the state. I urge all voters to ensure their participation in this festival of democracy by taking all precautions against COVID-19.

8:20 AM: Voters were seen following social distnacing in Assam. 

Polling began At 7 am on Saturday for the 30 seats in the first phase of the assembly elections in West Bengal and 47 seats in Assam amid tight security, officials said. In West Bengal, more than 73 lakh voters are eligible to exercise their franchise to decide the fate of 191 candidates in these seats, most of which are located in the once-Naxal-affected Jungle Mahal region. Over 81.09 lakh voters, including 40,77,210 males and 40,32,481 females, are eligible to cast their votes at 1,1537 polling stations in this phase in Assam. 

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi has urged voters to turn out in record numbers and exercise their right to vote as polling for the first phase of assembly elections in West Bengal and Assam began on Saturday morning.

"Today, Phase 1 of the West Bengal Assembly elections begin.I would request all those who are voters in the seats polling today to exercise their franchise in record numbers," Prime Minister Modi said in a tweet. "The first phase of elections begin in Assam. Urging those eligible to vote in record numbers. I particularly call upon my young friends to vote," he added.

Earlier, the campaigning has picked up pace in Assam and West Bengal that will witness first phase polling on Saturday and lead campaigners from contesting parties have intensified their efforts to woo voters in other poll-bound states also. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP chief JP Nadda, Union Ministers Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Smriti Irani, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan have campaigned for the party in the last few days. 

Campaigning has picked up momentum in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry which will go to the polls on April 6. 

Parties have also deployed several local leaders in the campaign to give momentum to their campaign. 

Congress leaders including Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, former union ministers Salman Khurshid, Mallikarjun Kharge and Manish Tewari, party leaders Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Ripun Bora, Jitendra Singh, Gaurav Gogoi, Oommen Chandy have campaigned for the party. 

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is leading the party`s campaign in the state. 

In Tamil Nadu leaders of AIADMK, DMK, Makkal Needhi Maiam and other regional parties in the fray have intensified their campaign with less than ten days left for electioneering. 

Elections are being held in eight phases in West Bengal and three phases in Assam. 

Thirty seats in West Bengal and 47 in Assam are going to the polls in the first phase on Saturday. 

The first phase of elections in high-stakes poll battle in West Bengal will be held on Saturday with both the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) seeking to outdo each other in poll promises and campaign rhetoric. 

While the BJP is striving to form its first government in the state, the Left-ISF-Congress alliance is also striving to spring a surprise. 

Thirty seats go to the polls in the first phase and include all constituencies in Purulia and Jhargram and some constituencies from Bankura, Purba Medinipur and Paschim Medinipur. 

Elections to 294 constituencies in the state will be held in eight phases till April 29 and the results will be declared on May 2. 

The first phase of polling will decide the electoral fate of 191 candidates including 21 women. 

TMC had won 27 out of these 30 seats in the 2016 elections and BJP was not a major player in the last polls. 

However, the party has gained in strength in the past five years and has emerged as the main challenger to the ruling party which has won two successive assembly polls. 

The BJP won 18 seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections against 22 won by the TMC. 

Congress had won two seats going to the polls in the first phase and Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) had won one seat. 

In Assam, the Congress is fighting 43 of 47 seats going to the polls in the first phase. 

A total of 264 candidates are in the fray from 47 seats. 

In 2016, the BJP and its ally AGP had won 35 of these seats. 

The BJP alone had bagged 27 seats. 

Congress could manage to win only 9 seats despite securing nearly the same vote percentage. 

In the first phase, 37 sitting MLAs are re-contesting including 24 from the BJP, 6 each from Congress and AGP, and one from the AIUDF. 

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has also addressed rallies in the state. 

Congress has stitched a coalition named "Mahajath" with All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), Communist Party of India, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the Communist Party of India (Marxist Leninist) Liberation, the Anchalik Gana Marcha (AGM) and the Bodoland Peoples` Front (BPF) to oust the BJP government. 

BJP has allied with Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and United People`s Party Liberal (UPPL). 

PM Modi addressed one rally in West Bengal and two in Assam on Wednesday. 

With PTI and ANI inputs