Senior Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Wednesday alleged that not every voter can cast their votes in Bhabanipur bypolls as the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) will prevent voters to get out of their homes.
Briefing mediapersons, Chowdhury said, "We are contesting in Samserganj. TMC is causing violence there. They have attacked local journalists. The administration is silent as they are the agents of TMC."
"We have trust in Election Commission. Our only demand is that the Commission must ensure that people cast their votes peacefully. I believe that not everyone can cast their vote in Bhabanipur. TMC will try to prevent the voters who probably do not give their votes to the party to get out of their homes," added the Congress leader.
The bypoll in Bhabanipur assembly constituency on Thursday is being keenly watched as Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee who is not an MLA is contesting from here.
Besides Bhabanipur, polling will be held in Jangipur and Samserganj Assembly constituencies. The polling will begin at 7 am today. The counting of votes will take place on October 3.
Bhabanipur bypoll has become a prestige battle for West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who is presently not an MLA.
Notably, Mamata Banerjee was defeated by BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari in the Nandigram constituency in the Assembly elections held earlier this year.
Following this, the Bhabanipur Assembly seat was vacated by the West Bengal Agriculture Minister Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay in May, making way for West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to contest from Bhabanipur seat as a move to continue to hold her post.
Bharatiya Janata Party fielded 41-year-old Priyanka Tibrewal against the TMC supremo.
A lawyer by profession, Tibrewal is the vice-president of the West Bengal unit of BJP Yuva Morcha. She is also the petitioner in the Calcutta High Court against the post-poll violence in the state. Notably, the High Court has ordered a CBI probe in violence in West Bengal after the Assembly elections.
On the other hand, CPI(M) has fielded Srijib Biswas, also a lawyer by profession in the Bhabanipur constituency. Polling in Samserganj could not take place on April 26 during the seventh phase of West Bengal elections due to the death of Congress candidate Rezaul Haque.
Similarly, the polling in Jangipur was not held due to the death of Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) candidate from Pradip Nandi.
TMC leaders Jakir Hossain and Amirul Islam are party candidates from Jangipur and Samserganj seats, respectively. The CPI(M) has fielded Md Modasar Hossain from Samserganj seat and Jane Alam Migya from Jangipur.
Milan Ghosh is the BJP candidate from Samserganj while Sujit Das will contest from Jangipur.
The Mamata Banerjee-led TMC registered a landslide victory in polls winning 213 seats in the 294-member West Bengal assembly. The BJP lost the polls but emerged as the second-largest party with 77 seats.
( With inputs from ANI )
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