Maheshtala bypoll peaceful

Kolkata: The Assembly bypoll at Maheshtala constituency in South 24 Parganas went off peacefully amidst tight security arrangments on Monday in sharp contrast to rampant violence during the recent panchayat elections in the state.

Around 70 per cent polling was recorded till 5 pm as the central para-military forces personnel stood guard at each booth.

The figure was around 33 per cent till 11 am after the polling started at around 7 am as long queues of voters were visible at every booth. The constituency has around 2,48,855 voters and it covers 283 booths.

The complaints which were few in numbers were focussed on the malfunctionning of EVMs at some booths.

Chief electoral officer (CEO) in West Bengal Aariz Aftab informed that 10 companies of central forces have been deployed alongwith a large contingent of state armed police forces in the constituency area to ensure free and fair polling.

The Assembly bypoll became evident following the death of Trinamul Congress MLA Kasturi Das, mother of Ratna Chatterjee, the estranged wife of Sovan Chatterjee, the heavyweight Trinamul minister and Kolkata Mayor.

To retain the seat the Trinamul fielded her husband Dulal Das, the chairman of Maheshtala Municipality against whom the BJP fielded a retired IPS officer Sujit Ghosh, who earlier served as the joint director of the Central Bureau of Investigation.

The Left candidate was Prabhat Chowdhury who was supported by the Congress.