Sagardighi bypolls: 30 units of Central forces deployed

kolkata: The stage is set for the bypoll to the Sagardighi Assembly constituency in Murshidabad to be held on Monday amidst tight security.

It will be a three-cornered contest as the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC), Opposition BJP and the Congress-Left alliance are in the fray in the minority-dominated seat. The Election Commission, in a bid to ensure free and fair polls, has deployed 30 companies of central forces in the area. It has approximately 2.3 lakh voters.

TMC won the seat in 2021 by a margin of nearly 50,000 votes, securing more than 50 per cent of the total votes polled, whereas the BJP and the Congress-Left alliance could bag 24 per cent and 19 per cent respectively.

TMC has been winning the seat since 2011. The bypoll to the Sagardighi Assembly seat was necessitated because of the death of its three-time TMC MLA and state minister Subrata Saha in December last year.

TMC has fielded local leader Debashish Banerjee, who is up against Dilip Saha of the BJP, and the Left-supported Congress candidate Bayron Biswas who is known as the beedi-baron in the area.

The constituency is also known for its beedi industry and is also a cradle of migrant labourers.

Apart from more than 60 per cent minority population, the rural seat also has around 18.5 per cent Scheduled Caste and 6.5 per cent Scheduled Tribe population.

“In the bypoll, we must improve our margin further and expose the unholy opposition nexus of BJP, CPI(M) and Congress. I wish to tell everyone here that a vote for the Congress will strengthen the hand of the BJP and its designs to implement NRC in future,” TMC national general secretary Banerjee had said during a recent election campaign.

The Election Commission on Friday issued an order transferring the officer-in-charge of Sagardighi Police Station two days ahead of the bypoll. The results of the will be announced on March 2.