35.9% turnout in Bhabanipur in six hours

Bhabanipur assembly seat that has witnessed some kind of tension from the morning recorded the lowest polling percentage among the three assembly constituencies where elections are held on Thursday.
The poor turnout of voters was witnessed despite the Election Commission's effort to attract the voters to the polling stations.

The BJP on Thursday complained to the ECI against two state ministers - Subrata Mukherjee and Firhad Hakim for impressing upon the voters and urged the commission to keep the two cabinet ministers under house-arrest till the election is over.

"The Trinamool ministers are going to the voters and forcing them to vote for the Trinamool Congress and we have complained about it to the election commission," a senior BJP leader said.

Meanwhile, there was a minor scuffle at Khalsa High School in Bhabanipur area when the BJP supporters alleged that the Trinamool Congress was trying to push false voters to the polling station. When BJP workers tried to enter the booth, they were stopped by the TMC workers and finally the central forces came and dispersed the mob.

"I have been alleging that they are making illegal assembly in different places and now they are pushing false voters into the booth," BJP candidate in Bhabanipur Priyanka Tibrewal said.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is likely to cast her vote at Mitra Institution at 4 p.m. The constituency has recorded the lowest polling percentage among three assembly by-elections in the state till 1 p.m. in the afternoon.


According to the data available with the Election Commission of India, the high-profile assembly constituency recorded only 35.9 per cent of polling till 1 p.m. On the other hand, the two assembly constituencies of Murshidabad district -- Jangipur and Samserganj recorded 53.7 and 57.1 per cent polling respectively - IANS