KOLKATA: Except for a few stray incidents, the by-election in the two wards (one each) of the Asansol Municipal Corporation (AMC) and Bongaon Municipality passed off peacefully on Sunday.
Till 5 pm on Sunday, 82.71 per cent voted in Bongaon and 82.62 per cent in Asansol.
The total number of electors in ward 6 under AMC is 10006 while those in ward 14 of Bongaon municipality are 4776. Soon after the municipal general elections results were announced, the councillor of ward 14 of Bongaon Municipality, Dilip Das passed away. In the AMC, Bidhan Upadhyay from
Trinamool Congress took oath as the Mayor without getting elected on February 25. To
continue as the Mayor of
AMC, Upadhyay needed to be elected from any of the AMC wards.
Since Sunday morning, polling was going on peacefully amid tight security.
In the morning, BJP workers allegedly started demonstrating in front of Keshab Rao High School in Bongaon unnecessarily.
At booth numbers 213 and 214 located at the Gandhipally Vivekananda Vidyapith of Bongaon, BJP and TMC workers got involved in a clash alleging manipulation in the voting process against each other.
However, a large contingent of police force rushed to the spot and controlled the situation.
After a while, BJP workers put up a blockade at the Batar More area in Bongaon but police compelled them to withdraw after a few moments.
In Asansol, TMC and BJP workers got involved in a clash at the JK Nagar area in Ranigunj.
A large contingent of police force led by senior officials of Asansol Durgapur Police Commissionerate dispersed the mob and restored peace in the area.
However, BJP leaders got involved in an
altercation with the cops as the forces were trying to prevent the situation from getting out of hand.
However, police claimed that the place was far away from the poll booth and did not obstruct polling.