The byelections to the two Assembly seats — the high-profile Bhowanipore seat where incumbent chief minister Mamata Banerjee is contesting against CPI(M) candidate Nandini Mukherjee and Basirhat North seat where Trinamul Congress candidate A.T.M. Abdullah is locked in a four-cornered contest with CPI(M)’s Subid Ali Gazi — passed off peacefully and without any untoward incident.
According to information received, there was 44.89 per cent voters’ turnout at Bhowanipore and 80.35 per cent in Basirhat North in the bypolls, a little low in comparison to the Assembly polls: 63.71 and 86.00 percent in the two seats respectively. Although Bhowanipore is witnessing a fight between six candidates, but it will effectively be a contest between Ms Banerjee who resigned from the Lok Sabha to take over the post of West Bengal chief minister and Prof. Mukherjee, a greenhorn of the CPI(M) which was routed in the recent Assembly polls after over three decades of power. In Basirhat North, Trinamul Congress’ Mr Abdullah is pitted in a four-cornered contest with CPI(M)’s Mr Gazi being his principal opponent. The seat fell vacant following the death of the sitting MLA, CPI(M)’s Mustafa Bin Qasem.
Polling started amidst tight security on Sunday morning. Steady stream of voters were seen in front of the booths in Bhowanipore despite the intermittent rains. After the rains stopped in the afternoon, a long queue was seen in the polling booths in Bhownipore from where Ms Banerjee is fighting for the first time to get elected to remain the chief minister, after Trinamul Congress legislator Subrata Bakshi resigned from the seat to make room for her.