Sabang Assembly bypoll: Voting begins on a dull note amid tight security as Congress, TMC, BJP and Left Front eye seat

Voting for the Sabang assembly seat began on a dull note on Thursday with just 15 percent electorates exercising their franchise in the first two hours, an Election Commission (EC) official said. The opposition CPI(M) and the BJP accused the ruling TMC of driving away their election agents from the polling booths, an allegation which was denied by TMC leader and Rajya Sabha MP Manas Bhunia. “The allegation made by the opposition parties is completely baseless. Voting is going on peacefully in the constituency,” Bhunia said. The byelection is being held amid tight security with eight companies of central forces deployed in the constituency, the EC official said. The bypoll is being seen as a litmus test for both Trinamool Congress and BJP. The TMC in its campaign tried to woo the voters to wrest the seat regarded as a Congress stronghold, while for BJP the result will be an indicator whether the party is able to make inroads and its victory in the just-concluded Gujarat Assembly election will have any impact in Sabang.

Voting for by-election in West Bengal’s Sabang, underway. TMC's Gita Bhunia, Congress' Chiranjib Bhowmick, BJP's Antara Bhattacharya and CPI(M)candidate Rita Mandal are among the top contenders pic.twitter.com/PgE2Rn9kWT

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A total of 245,259 voters are eligible to exercise their democratic choice in the Sabang constituency. While the TMC has fielded Gita Rani Bhunia, wife of former Congress leader Manas Bhunia who had defected to the Mamata Banerjee-led party earlier this year necessitating the by-election, representing BJP in the polls is Antara Bhattacharya. Congress has fielded Chiranjib Bhowmick, a local leader. CPM’s Rita Mandal is also in the fray as a Left Front candidate. Manas had won the seat in last year’s Assembly poll as a Congress candidate securing 59.70 percent votes. Congress had contested the 2016 Assembly polls in alliance with CPM-led Left Front. TMC had then bagged 36 percent votes. The BJP candidate, on the other hand, had polled only 2.6 percent votes in the 2016 Assembly poll. Altogether eight companies of central paramilitary forces have been deployed for the Sabang bypoll. Political analysts feel that TMC will have an advantage with Congress and the Left fighting the by-poll separately. A large section of the CPM’s district leaders feel that an alliance with Congress like in the last Assembly election would have helped both the parties. Although dubbed as a “betrayer” by his former party Congress, Manas expressed confidence and said TMC will win the by-poll. State Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has alleged that Manas has betrayed Congress and the people of Sabang for his personal gains. “The people will give him a befitting reply”, he said. Manas said, “The people of Sabang constituency know what I have done for them during my tenure as an MLA. The TMC will win by a big margin.” Notwithstanding defection of many party leaders to the TMC in the last one year, the Congress is hopeful of retaining the seat. The Congress in its campaign had shown a video where Manas is seen attacking the TMC regime and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee before the last year’s Assembly election for alleged misrule. The BJP, which has been making inroads into the state, is also leaving no stone unturned to increase its vote share. “We will win Sabang seat this time. The people of this constituency have seen the double standards of Manas Bhunia and they no longer trust him,” state BJP president Dilip Ghosh claimed. With inputs from PTI