West Bengal: The high-voltage bypoll to the Bhabanipur assembly seat and 3 other constituencies in West Bengal is being held on Thursday amid tight security and stringent Covid-19 measures. By-election is also taking place in Odisha’s Pipili assembly constituency. The voting for the bypolls in 4 constituencies across the two states ended at 6 PM today. The crucial Bhabanipur bypoll would see BJP’s Priyanka Tibrewal and CPI (M)’s Srijib Biswas locking horns with Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee, who needs to win the election to retain her seat as West Bengal chief minister.
A Clash between Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) and TMC supporters was seen to break out today in Bhabanipur Assembly seat where voting for the bypoll is underway. BJP leader Kalyan Chaubey’s car was also allegedly vandalized, the report added.
Congress has decided not to field a candidate there. Besides Bhabanipur, Samserganj and Jangipur constituencies underwent bypolls today. As Bhabanipur records 53.32% voters turnout till 5 PM, Samserganj records 72.45%, Jangipur records 68.17 voter turnout till 3 PM around 59.72% voting was recorded in the by-election to the Pipili assembly seat in Odisha’s Puri district till 3 PM today.
The Bhabanipur Assembly seat was vacated by the West Bengal Agriculture Minister Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay. Polling in Samserganj could not take place due to the death of Congress candidate Rezaul Haque. Similarly, the polling in Jangipur was not held due to the death of Pradip Nandi.