KOLKATA: The campaign for the by-election in three Assembly seats in Bengal came to an end at 5 pm on Monday. Mamata Banerjee, the Trinamool Congress nominee, is contesting from Bhabanipur that has about 2.31 lakh voters. Jakir Hossain and Aminul Islam are contesting for the state's ruling party from Jangipur and Shamshergunj seats in Murshidabad districts respectively. BJP has fielded Priyanka Tibrewal in Bhabanipur.
The seat fell vacant after Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay resigned. The high voltage campaign in Bhabanipur came to a close at 5 pm. However, chaos prevailed in the constituency when BJP national vice-president Dilip Ghosh faced the ire of locals for having entered a vaccination camp at Jadubabur Bazar to campaign for the saffron party's candidate after which a ruckus followed. Locals alleged that the saffron party leader and his supporters turned the situation hostile by resorting to provocations and disturbing the vaccination process.
Ghosh, however, alleged that he was manhandled. Two of Ghosh's security personnel were reportedly caught on camera while they were drawing pistols at the locals. An irate Ghosh shouted back at the crowd. Following the incident, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has sought a report regarding the same. BJP MP from Barrackpore in North 24-Parganas Arjun Singh, who is in charge of the BJP campaign in the area, also faced 'go back' slogans in the poll-bound constituency.
Meanwhile, TMC's national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, party's secretary general Partha Chatterjee, MP Mala Roy and ministers Subrata Mukherjee and Firhad Hakim campaigned for the ruling party supremo and its candidate from Bhabanipur, Mamata Banerjee. Two Union ministers Smriti Irani and Hardeep Singh Puri campaigned for Tibrewal.
While TMC's aim is to ensure that Banerjee wins with a record margin, BJP is trying to defeat her by spreading canards. The BJP candidate had lost in 2021 Assembly election from Entally by over 58,000 votes and in 2015 she was defeated in the Kolkata Municipal Corporation election from ward 58. Bhabanipur, which was originally a Congress base, shifted its allegiance to TMC after the seat was reframed in 2011. Subrata Bakshi, the TMC state president, won it in 2011 and later Mamata Banerjee was elected in the by-election in 2011. From 1952 to 1977, Sadhan Gupta from CPI(M) was the only non-Congress candidate, who was elected from the seat in 1969.
Congress candidate got over 5,000 votes in the 2012 Assembly election. CPI(M) had fielded its candidate but over the years the party lost its vote base in the area.
There are 2.31 lakh voters in Bhabanipur with 288 polling stations. Of the eight wards in Bhabanipur, in the 2021 Assembly election, BJP took a lead of over 2,000 votes in ward 70 and 537 votes in ward 74.