Bengal bypolls continue peacefully

Kolkata: Voting to the by-elections in the four Assembly constituencies in West Bengal is underway peacefully on Saturday, with Santipur recording the highest polling percentage in the first two hours.

The bypolls are taking place Dinhata (Coochbehar), Santipur (Nadia), Khardha (North 24 Parganas) and Gosaba (South 24 Parganas).

According to the data released by the Election Commission, Santipur has recorded 15.4 per cent of voting - the highest among the four assembly constituencies, since people began casting their ballots at 7 a.m.

Dinhata and Khardha recorded 11.1 per cent and 11.4 per cent, respectively. Gosaba with 10.3 percent recorded the lowest polling percentage.

However, there were some allegations raised by the BJP and the Trinamool Congress.

BJP candidate in Santipur Niranjan Biswas alleged that the voters were not being allowed to come out of their houses to exercise their franchise.

"Some of our supporters are being threatened so that they don't go to the polling station. The Trinamool Congress goons are forcing them to stay indoors. I have lodged a complaint with the election commission," Biswas said.

On the other hand, a Trinamool Congress candidate in Khardah Sovondeb Chattopadhyay alleged that the central forces are not allowing the voters and the polling agents inside the booths on the pretext of some weird reasons.

"The agents are telling the voters that if they wear a badge then they will not be allowed inside the booths. This is my eighth election and I know the rules better than the forces. If the badge is in my name with the party's symbol, then they cannot be stopped.

"The voters were also told that if they were not fully vaccinated against Covid-19, then they would not be allowed inside the booths. This is weird. How can they dictate terms like this? Their only job is to see whether there is any problem outside the booth. The technical specifications will be handled by the Presiding officer. I have lodged a complaint with the election commission," he added.

The Election Commission has sought a report regarding this.

The Commission has made an extensive security arrangement and deployed 92 units of central police forces for the bypolls.

The maximum number of central forces is being deployed at Dinhata that shares the border with Bangladesh. As many as 27 companies of central force have been deployed there with 22 at Shantipur, 20 at Khardaha and 23 at Gosaba.

Eight companies of the central forces will remain till the counting on November 2.

There are four separate general, police and expenditure observers respectively, one in each of the constituencies.

There will be 177 micro-observers and webcasting will be done in 760 polling stations.

According to Election Commission data, the total number of voters, including the service voters in these constituencies are 10,16,766 with 18 candidates contesting.

There will be 1,439 polling stations with the highest number 417 located in Dinhata.

Among the constituencies, Dinhata has the highest number of voters with 2,98,912, followed by Ranaghat (2,55,334), Khardaha (2,32,393) and Gosaba (2,30,127).

The total number of male voters in the four constituencies are 5,20,845 while female voters are 4,95,904.

There are 17 third genders but no overseas voters.