West Bengal: Voting for Sagardighi assembly by-poll begins amid tight security

While the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) has fielded Debashish Banerjee, Dilip Saha is contesting for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) while Bayron Biswas is the Congress candidate

The voting for the by-poll at Sagardighi constituency in West Bengal’s Murshidabad district is underway amid tight security.

The counting will take place on March 2. (ANI image)

The by-poll was due after the death of TMC MLA and state minister Subrata Saha in December last year.

“There are 246 booths. Central forces have been deployed in all the booths. Till around 9am there has been no reports of any untoward incidents. Voting is going on peacefully,” said a poll panel official.

13.37% votes were polled till 9am.

While the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) has fielded Debashish Banerjee, Dilip Saha is contesting for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) while Bayron Biswas is the Congress candidate.

Sagardighi district is known for its beedi industry and the rural seat has around 18.5% Scheduled Caste (SC) and 6.5% Scheduled Tribe (ST) population. The area has around 2.3 lakh voters.

The TMC has been victorious in this constituency since 2011, when it came to power for the first time.

In the 2021 state assembly elections, TMC’s Subrata Saha won the seat by a margin of more than 50,000 votes defeating BJP’s Mafuja Khatun, who came second.

The counting will take place on March 2.