KOLKATA: The highly-polarised Sabang Vidhan Sibha by-election, whose results could be an indicator of whether BJP has started making inroads into West Bengal, recorded 50 per cent votes till 1 pm at 306 polling booths in West Bengal on Thursday.
The BJP which has struggled to gain a foothold in the state would be hoping to maintain their track record after winning both the Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections the past week.
In the Sabang by-poll, though the voting percentage was a mere 15 per cent in the first two hours of voting, the pace picked up as the day progressed. The voting percentage is expected to rise as more people are likely to cast their votes in the afternoon.
Sporadic violence between Trinamool Congress cadres and Opposition cadres were reported in several parts of the constituency, with central forces resorting to lathi-charge and firing several rounds in the air to disperse clashes.
Eight companies of central forces have been deployed in the polling booths where some 2.5 lakh voters will decide the fate of contestants.
The by-election was necessitated after former West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee (WBPCC) president Manas Bhunia, who crossed the floor over to Trinamool Congress in September last year, was nominated to the Rajya Sabha.
Manas Bhunia’s wife Gitarani Bhunia is fighting the by-elections as a TMC candidate against Rita Mandal of CPM, Chiranjib Bhowmick of Congress and Antara Bhattacharya of BJP.
Rubbishing allegations of rigging by using ‘outsider’ cadres of TMC, Rajya Sabha MP Manas Bhunia exuded confidence of TMC winning the seat.
Several political stalwarts including BJP’s Mukul Roy, the TMC co-founder who recently crossed over to the saffron party, WBPCC chief Adhir Ranjan Choudhury and CPM state secretary Surjya Kanta Mishra campaigned for the election. The results of the election will be announced on Sunday morning.