West Bengal's Nandigram and Rejinagar assembly constituencies recorded an overall voter turnout of 80.48 per cent in Tuesday's bypolls, even as opposition parties alleged booth-level irregularities and voter intimidation.
Nandigram in Purba Medinipur registered 80.89 per cent polling, while Rejinagar in Murshidabad recorded 80.08 per cent turnout, a senior Election Commission official said on Wednesday. Around 5.24 lakh voters were eligible to cast their ballots in the two constituencies.
The Election Commission described polling as "more or less peaceful", but Rejinagar witnessed allegations of irregularities, with the Congress, CPI(M) and Mamata AITC claiming their polling agents were prevented from entering or were forced out of several booths.
West Bengal Congress president Shubhankar Sarkar alleged that party agents were forcibly removed from more than 100 booths. Congress candidate Mohammad Abdullahil Kafi staged a sit-in outside the Rejinagar police station, demanding cancellation of the poll.
Mamata AITC candidate Rabiul Alam Chowdhury also sought repolling, claiming only 25-30 of his party's 315 polling agents remained at their booths. DTC candidate Safiuzzaman Sheikh and the CPI(M) made similar allegations.
The BJP rejected the charges of booth capturing and malpractice, accusing the opposition of trying to undermine the electoral process.
The arrest of AJUP chief Humayun Kabir following a confrontation with police also drew attention during polling. An official in the Chief Electoral Officer's office said a report on the circumstances of the arrest had been sent to the Election Commission.
In Nandigram, Congress candidate Milan Pradhan alleged "vote-loot, voters' intimidation and biased action of the police and security forces". Pradhan, who is out on interim bail in cases related to the 2007 anti-land acquisition agitation, alleged that police restricted his movement and CRPF personnel assaulted him in the presence of senior officers.
The Nandigram bypoll was necessitated after Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari vacated the seat to retain Bhabanipur, while the Rejinagar bypoll was triggered after Kabir resigned from the seat to retain Naoda.
Counting of votes will take place on October 9.
(With inputs from PTI)