Kolkata: Amid allegations by the BJP and the CPI-M of attacks by Trinamool Congress goons, byelections in two assembly seats of West Bengal went off peacefully with comparatively low turnout Saturday.
“Polling in the two seats was overall peaceful, but the turnout comparatively was low. While Basirhat South recorded 79.59 percent, in Chowringhee only 47.13 percent of polling was recorded. In 2011, the polling percentage was 86.98 and 54.34, respectively,” Chief Electoral Officer Sunil Gupta said.
Gupta said the polling process was “free, fair and peaceful” with only one incident of a scuffle between BJP and Trinamool activists in which three people were injured.
Both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) accused the ruling Trinamool of attacking their workers and resorting to bogus voting.
State BJP president Rahul Sinha said Chowringhee candidate Raitesh Tiwari and several party workers were attacked when they tried to stop Trinamool supporters from casting bogus votes in two booths.
CPI-M state secretary Biman Bose accused the Trinamool of resorting to intimidating tactics which left six of its activists, including two women, injured.
“Polling was not at all peaceful. Our polling camps were attacked in several places and Trinamool employed to terror tactics to intimidate genuine voters,” Bose said.
The Trinamool refuted all allegations and accused the BJP of influencing the polls.
“The BJP has used its power to influence the polls today, just like Congress did when they were in power. The manner in which the opposition has made allegations, it is certain that they do not believe in people.
“The bypolls today were largely peaceful, free and fair,” Trinamool secretary general Partha Chatterjee said.
The Chowringhee bypoll follows the resignation of Trinamool legislator Sikha Mitra, who won the 2011 election but quit the party. Then, Trinamool had joined hands with the Congress for the poll battle.
A total of 200,256 electors spread across 222 polling stations had to choose from nine candidates in Chowringhee — Trinamool’s Nayna Bandyopadhyay, BJP’s Ritesh Tiwari, Congress’ Santosh K. Pathak, CPI-M’s Faiyaz Ahmad Khan and five independents.
The death of CPI-M legislator Narayan Mukherjee necessitated polling in Basirhat (South), which came into being in 2011. As many as 235,843 people were eligible to vote here in 286 polling stations.
The five-cornered contest pitted CPI-M’s Mrinal Chakraborty against former Indian football captain and Trinamool contestant Dipendu Biswas, Congress’ Asit Majumdar and BJP’s Samik Bhattacharya. There was also a Socialist Unity Centre of India-Communist (SUCI-C) candidate.
The elections were being held in the shadow of the Saradha chit fund scam probe in which a Trinamool MP and another party leader are behind bars, while the Central Bureau of Investigation and other central agencies have interrogated other party MPs and leaders.
The BJP’s poll plank in Basirhat was infiltration from Bangladesh and the party fielded its top leaders, including national president Amit Shah, during the campaign.
The CPI-M and the Congress relied on door-to-door campaigning and holding small meetings.
Trinamool deployed a host of ministers and senior leaders, as also several Bengali filmstars to woo the voters. However, its supremo and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee stayed away from campaigning.