“It appears that the polling percentage is on the lower side, it is unlikely to reach the district’s average polling percentage of 82, a trend recorded in the past few elections,” said a poll panel source. Assembly segment-wise polling percentage revealed that the areas with a spurt in Covid-19 cases had lower voter turnout on Thursday than usual. For example, till 5pm, the turnout percentage in some of the constituencies like Bhatpara, Barrackpore, Noapara, Jagatdal, Khardah and Dum Dum North were 65, 67 70, 74, 77.06 and 76.3 per cent, respectively. “The voter turnout in these Assembly segments is unlikely to improve at the end of the day as reports suggest that there were no long queues in front of the booths even after 5pm. It is clear that people in these areas, which are close to Calcutta, were afraid of going out to cast their votes in the backdrop of the raging pandemic,” said a source.