Close to 80 percent of the voters cast their ballot in by-polls to the Bongaon Lok Sabha seat in West Bengal Thursday. The polling process was largely peaceful, an official said.
The opposition parties accused the Trinamool Congress of unleashing violence in some pockets to thwart free and fair polls and threatended to move the Election Commission about the conduct of some of the officials. The ruling Trinamool, however, called the polls free and fair and accused the opposition of making baseless allegations fearing defeat.
"The polling percentage was 79.8 at Bongaon till 6 p.m. The process was peaceful. There has been no demand for repoll," an Election Commission official said here.
The scheduled time of polling ended at 5 p.m., but polling continued as many voters stood in the queue.
The by-poll, necessitated by the death of Trinamool MP Kapil Krishna Thakur, is being held in the shadow of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry into the multi-billion rupee Saradha ponzi scam.
Several Trinamool leaders, including Transport and Sports Minister Madan Mitra, are under arrest, while a number of his party colleagues have been quizzed with regard to the scandal, said to be the biggest in the state.
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Adding to the significance, the deceased MP's brother Manjul Krishna Thakur quit Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's cabinet and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party ahead of the polls.
The Trinamool has fielded Kapil Krishna's widow Mamatabala, while Manjul Krishna's son Subrata is the BJP candidate. Former state minister Debesh Das is the Communist Party of the India-Marxist nominee. Congress' Kuntal Mondal is also in fray.
A total of 15,65,447 people, including 7,55,822 women and 11 others, were eligible to cast their votes at 1,863 polling stations. The total number of candidates was 11, two of them women.
Simultaneous by-polls are being held for the Krishnaganj assembly seat where 81.80 percent voters expressed their choice. The seat in Nadia district fell vacant due to the death of Trinamool lawmaker Sushil Biswas.
Among the five candidates are Trinamool's Satyajit Biswas, CPI-M's Apurba Biswas and BJP's Manabendra Roy. The Congress ticket has gone to Nityagopal Mondal.
The strength of the electorate is 2,44,988, including 1,16,441 women and one other. There are 288 polling stations.Both Bongaon and Krishnaganj are reserved for scheduled caste candidates.
Trinammol Congress secretary general Partha Chatterjee said "despite a smear campaign by the opposition, the polls were peaceful".
"Opposition has comprehended TMC will win. So they are making false claims now. People will support (chief minister) Mamata Banerjee's agenda of development, peace and prosperity," he said.
On the other hand, the opposition Left Front alleged "rampant violence" in Nadia district's Kalyani and Gayeshpur areas, which come under the Bongaon parliamentary constituency. "Poling was not free and fair in these areas," said CPI-M state secretariat member Rabin Deb.
The BJP said the polling was "more or less peaceful", though the Trinamool unleashed violence at Gayeshpur and Kalyani. "We will file complaint with the Election Commission about the conduct of one of its observers Ajay Sing Gangwar and a police inspector," said state BJP chief Rahul Sinha.