Darjeeling: Assembly by-polls were peacefully conducted in Darjeeling and Islampur in North Bengal on Sunday. "There were no incidents of violence. However, there were some complaints, which have been addressed. The voting till 5pm stood at 62 per cent," said Koushik Sinha, SDO, Darjeeling.
"An FIR was lodged at the Darjeeling Sadar Police Station but no one has been arrested," said Amarnath K, Superintendent of Police, Darjeeling.
A scuffle took place in Badamtam tea estate. There were allegations from the GJM (Binoy Tamang faction) that outsiders had entered booth number 112, Badamtam Higher Secondary School. After the scuffle ensued, additional security forces arrived.
In Darjeeling, BJP candidate Niraj Zimba entered the Turnbull school polling station with his armed guard to cast his vote. The Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) personnel asked his bodyguard to leave. On his way back after casting his vote Zimba and his supporters had a heated exchange of words with GJM (Binoy supporters) on Gandhi road.
GJM supporters alleged that Zimba and his men manhandled GJM workers. Zimba however denied the allegation. Binoy Tamang, the GJM president and an Independent candidate backed by the TMC and GJM (Binoy faction) while talking to mediapersons appealed to maintain peace in the Hills.
There are 321 polling stations in the Darjeeling Assembly constituency. Altogether 45 polling stations have been declared as critical.
There are 2,34,758 voters, including 1,15,665 males and 119093 females.
There are 3,950 service voters. Along with state forces, 16 companies of CAPF were deployed in Darjeeling for the polls. Except for a stray incident at Madaripur, Islampur the by-polls passed of peacefully. One person was arrested in Islampur. Polling stood at 71 per cent.
The number of voters in Islampur Assembly constituency is 2,03,891. The number of male voters stood at 1,07,255 and female voters 96,634.
There are 219 polling stations in Islampur. With Congress MLA Kanailal Agarwal resigning from the Assembly and contesting the Lok Sabha elections as a TMC candidate, the seat had fallen vacant.