Amid tight security, voting for the by-election to the Bhabanipur constituency began on Thursday morning in Kolkata, with chief minister Mamta Banerjee contesting from the constituency.
Till 9 am the voter’s turnout was only 7.57% in Bhawanipur, while 16.32% voters were seen in Samserganj and 17.51% in Jangipur.
Experts state that a low polling percentage is generally seen during the by-elections.
Polls at two other constituencies also began that were scheduled for the by-polls., with strict covid protocols being followed.
The by-polls are critical for Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee as to retain as the state’s chief minister she needs to get elected as an MLA by the first week of November.
The by-elections are being held in the state's south, including seats in Kolkata's Bhawanipur and Jangipur and Samserganj seats in the Murshidabad district.
A total of 6,97,164 eligible electors will cast their votes in the three constituencies.
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Vote counting will begin on October 3.
Earlier, in the assembly elections held in West Bengal, Banerjee contested from the Nandigram against her former close associate Suvendu Adhikari, who left the party to join the BJP just months before the elections.
At a margin of 1,956 votes, Mamata had lost Nandigram to Adhikari.
To combat Banerjee, BJP has fielded lawyer Priyanka Tibrewal while Srijeeb Biswas the leader of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) is also contesting from the Bhawanipur seat.
Following the death of two candidates, the Jangipur and Samserganj polls in April had to be cancelled.
To ensure security at the polling station, the Election Commission has deployed 72 companies of central forces in the three constituencies, out of these 25 companies are stationed alone in Bhawanipur, sai,d officials.
Voting began on Thursday morning at 7 am and will get over by 6.30 pm.
Tibrewal has alleged that TMC MLA Madan Mitra tried capturing the Bhabanipur booth and turned off the voting machine, on purpose, the ANI reported.
“We are hoping for fair elections. Security deployment is very important. I will visit polling booths in the area today. The state government is in fear right now,” said Tibrewal.
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Section 144 under the CrPC has been enforced within the 200 metres of the election booths.
As a part of Covid guidelines, masks and sanitisers have been stocked up at the polling centres. Long queues were also seen since early morning outside the booths.