Brisk voting was recorded today in the first two hours of polling in the by-elections to the two assembly constituencies - Chowringhee and Basirhat Dakshin - in West Bengal, poll officials said.
"The voting in both the constituencies has been peaceful. There has been no instances of violence. In Basirhat Dakshin, 21% voting was recorded, where as in Chowringhee 9% voting was recorded in first two hours," said Amitjyoti Bhattacharya an election department official.
Bhattacharya said one or two instances of EVM machines not working was reported and action was taken immediately.
The fate of a total 14 candidates in the fray would be decided in the by-elections, nine in the city's prestigious Chowringhee seat and five in the Basirhat Dakshin constituency in North 24-Parganas district bordering Bangladesh.
Chowringhee seat was won by Sikha Mitra of Trinamool Congress in the 2011 Assembly elections. The by-election was needed due to resignation of Mitra from the TMC.
The Trinamool has fielded Nayna Bandyopadhyay, wife of party leader in the Lok Sabha Sudip Bandyopadhyay, from the Chowringhee Assembly segment while the BJP has put up Ritesh Tiwari. Santosh Pathak is the Congress candidate and Faiyaz Ahmed Khan is the CPI(M) nominee from the seat.
Basirhat Dakshin Assembly seat was won by CPI(M)'s Narayan Mukhopadhyay in 2011. The by-election was caused due to his death.
Former footballer Dipendu Biswas is the Trinamool candidate while BJP has fielded Samik Bhattacharya. Asit Majumder and Mrinal Chakrabarty are contesting from Basirhat Dakshin as Congress and CPI(M) candidates respectively.
The Assembly by-election is being regarded as an acid test for the ruling TMC in the backdrop of its MPs and functionaries being questioned and arrested by the CBI in connection with multi-crore Saradha chit fund scam.
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