Biswabrata Goswami
KRISHNAGAR, 30 OCT: Barring some stray incidents of violence, by-election in Santipur assembly constituency passed off peacefully, with around 80 per cent voter turnout today as voting ended at 6.30 pm.
The district election officer expressed satisfaction over the voting process. He said that it was peaceful and no major incident was reported.
The Opposition parties like BJP and CPI-M, however, brought several allegations of intimidation against the ruling Trinamul Congress.
The district Trinamul Congress leadership has, however, brushed aside the allegations.
BJP candidate Niranjan Biswas alleged that Trinamul Congress backed goons conducted raids at the houses of BJP agents last night and threatened them of dire consequences if they go to the booths on the Election Day.
“As a result, one Tapas Das, a BJP Sakti Pramukh, who was to serve as a booth agent at 245 number booth in Fuliapara, didn’t turn up as the Trinamul Congress workers threatened him last night. Worried about the threats, his wife locked him in a room. When I came to know, I rushed to his house, but his mother did not agree to lose her second son. Her elder son died due to the threats by the TMC workers in the last election,” said Mr Biswas.
He also alleged the TMC goons set the house of his booth agent Amit Sarkar’s house last night at Fuliapara. Though, he turned up and sat in the booth as a party’s agent, but when his mother franchised her rights, some TMC goons threatened her again asking her that they would take revenge after the end of the poll. Amit then left the booth after considering his mother’s mental condition.
At Bagachra, a group of TMC workers riding on motorbikes threatened the women voters when they were walking along the road to reach the polling booth. The women voters instead of being feared retaliated and a verbal squabble erupted. Later, security persons brought the situation under control and the women casted their votes.
In Santipur town, no incident of violence was reported and the polling passed off peacefully. It was seen that the minority voters franchised their rights altogether.
Local residents said the election observer played a vital role in controlling violence. He reached the sites immediately when he received complaints. Due to his active role, no major incident or booth capturing happened.
In Santipur by-election, Trinamul Congress has fielded Braja Kishore Goswami as a candidate while BJP has fielded Niranjan Biswas, CPI-M – Soumen Mahato and Congress has fielded Raju Paul.
Tags: #Santipur #Byelection #Peacefull #BJP #TMC
