Kolkata: The bypoll at Bhabanipur Assembly constituency on Thursday passed off peacefully without any untoward incident leaving the BJP only to lodge 12 "baseless" complaints with the Election Commission.
Banerjee cast her vote at 3.15 pm at Mitra Institution at ward number 73 of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation while Trinamool Congress national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee also cast his vote at the same venue at around 4.30 pm.
Despite a sloth at the beginning with only 21.73 percent votes polled till 11 am, the percentage went up in the South Kolkata's Assembly segment in the second half as it recorded 48.08 percent polls till 3 pm and 53.32 percent till 5 pm. There are around 2.05 lakh voters, including 95,209 female and four third gender voters in Bhabanipur.
The Election Commission would announce the final poll percentage on Friday. It needs a mention that the by-election on Thursday witnessed a record turnout of voters compared to that of 2011 bypoll when only 44.73 percent votes were polled in that constituency.
The 12 "baseless" complaints include the allegation of BJP candidate Priyanka Tibrewal of the presence of an outsider at a polling station housed at Khalsa Girls' High School. It was later revealed that the youth is a voter of Bhabanipur Assembly constituency but he is presently staying in Bansdroni for the time being. Though the incident led to chaos in the area, it did not affect the poll process at the booth. Later, voters from the constituency staged a demonstration against Tibrewal accusing her of creating disturbance in the area.
Another attempt of spreading false news regarding tension in Bhabanipur was foiled when the Kolkata Police released the footage of CCTV cameras rubbishing the claim of Kalyan Chowbey, the election agent of Hindustani Awami Morcha candidate and a close associate of the BJP, that his car was vandalised by supporters of some political leaders. Police confirmed that the incident did not have any political connection as Chowbey's car was damaged by a youth after a collision between the latter's bike and his car near Padmapukur.
Trinamool Congress leaders Firhad Hakim and Subrata Mukherjee also rubbished the claim of BJP that they have campaigned through social media and also visited certain places of the Assembly segment. "We do not have to learn the poll protocols from them. I have been in politics for the past 50 years. I do not know how to handle Twitter and would lodge a complaint with the police as it has been said that someone urged people to vote in our favour through a Twitter account in my name," Mukherjee said.
Hakim, who cast his vote with all his family members at Chetla Balika Vidyalaya, said: "I was at my camp office and would like to state that I never did anything unethical to campaign". He was also found taking tea at a CPI(M) camp office with the Left workers, who are his childhood friends, at Chetla. The CPI(M)'s candidate Srijib Biswas expressed his concern over the low poll percentage in the morning.
The Election Commission has received 12 complaints from Bhabanipur through its NGS portal. Sources said the Election Commission has found all the complaints from Bhabanipur to be baseless. Besides the 35 companies of the Central forces, senior officers, including 5 Joint Commissioners of Police, 14 Deputy Commissioners of Police and 14 Assistant Commissioners ensured tight security arrangements when people exercised their franchise at 287 booths in eight wards (63, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 77 and 82). All the booths were under CCTV surveillance and webcasting. The bypolls are also being held in Jangipur and Samserganj seats in the Murshidabad district. A total of 6,97,164 voters are eligible to exercise their franchise in the three constituencies, including Bhabanipur. Votes will be counted on October 3.