Mamata Banerjee had said that it was her destiny to be elected from her home seat Bhawanipur.
Kolkata:
Over three lakh voters of Bhabnipur South Kolkata Assembly constituency will today seal the fate of Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee, who is looking to enter the state assembly before the end of her six-month term as chief minister. a legislator.
The polling, which lasted for nearly 12 hours, began at around 7 am. Counting of votes will take place on October 3. The election was necessitated due to the resignation of Mamata Banerjee’s party leader Shobhandeb Chattopadhyay.
The Chief Minister had to contest because, despite her own party’s landslide victory in the assembly elections held this April-May, she could not win from Nandigram. The BJP put up a tough fight there through its Suvendu Adhikari, the chief minister’s confidante-turned-enemy.
According to a PTI report, the TMC chief had earlier said that it was his “destiny” to be elected from his home seat.
“My victory is necessary to remain the chief minister as only I will fight against CAA, NRC, demonetisation and anti-people policies of BJP,” she said.
The contest may not be easy for her, despite the fact that she lives there – her Kalighat residence is located in the constituency – and won the seat twice, in 2011 and 2016.
The BJP has fielded 41-year-old Priyanka Tibrewal against its arch rival. Though she lost the recent assembly elections and the 2015 municipal elections as well, the Calcutta High Court lawyer has turned a high profile by being one of the petitioners in the post-election violence case against the state government.
At the same time, the CPM has fielded another lawyer, Shrijib Biswas.
In view of the kind of political heat this contest has created, a security net has been laid in Bhabnipur. Prohibitory orders have been imposed 200 meters around polling stations since Tuesday evening, banning gatherings of more than five people in the area.
35 companies of central paramilitary forces have been deployed, of which three personnel are to be present at each of the 270 booths, all of which have been declared vulnerable. Mitra Institution, a state high school where Ms Banerjee cast her vote, is one of 13 booths that have been declared “very sensitive”.
The Election Commission has asked the Irrigation Department of the state to be on alert in view of the possibility of bad weather. All polling stations have been directed to keep pumps ready to take out the flood waters.
Bhawanipur has 1,11,283 male voters and 95,209 female voters. There are four belonging to the third gender.
Apart from Bhabnipur, Shamsherganj and Jangipur in Murshidabad district will also vote tomorrow.
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