E-Paper
Polling begins for Asansol, Ballygunge by-elections in Bengal
The ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) has fielded actor Shatrughan Sinha from Asansol and former Union minister Babul Supriyo from Ballygunge in Kolkata
Kolkata: Polling for the by-elections to Asansol Lok Sabha and Ballygunge assembly seats began in West Bengal on Tuesday morning. The results will be declared on Saturday.
The ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) has fielded actor Shatrughan Sinha from Asansol and former Union minister Babul Supriyo from Ballygunge in Kolkata.
The by-elections were necessitated as Supriyo resigned as the Lok Sabha member from Asansol after joining TMC from the BJP. The Ballygunge seat was left vacant after minister Subrata Mukherjee passed away last year.
Over 650 booths out of 2012 in Asansol and all 300 in Ballygunge have been identified as sensitive. Around 130 companies of central forces have been deployed for the polls.
Asansol has around 1.5 million voters while Ballygunge has around 250,000. The polling began at 7 am and would continue till 6:30 pm amid tight security.
TMC leaders said Sinha was chosen for the Asansol seat because of a sizeable chunk of the Hindi-speaking voters from Bihar, his home state. Sinha is popularly known as Bihari Babu (the gentleman from Bihar).
Amit Malviya, the head of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s information technology cell and the party’s co-in-charge of the Bengal unit, has called Sinha an outsider.
Supriyo, who quit the BJP last year after being dropped from the Union council of ministers and joined TMC, faces a tough contest in Ballygunge. The CPI (M) has fielded Saira Shah Halim against Supriyo.
