New Delhi: Counting of votes for by-elections is underway in four assembly constituencies-three in West Bengal and one in Odisha started at 8 am on Sunday and the initial trends are expected to trickle down in the first hour itself.
The three assembly constituencies in Bengal are Bhabanipur, Jangipur, and Samserganj, while the one in Odisha is Pipili. The Bengal by-elections remain crucial as it will determine the future of Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee to continue as chief minister.
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There will be 21 rounds of counting of votes in the Bhabanipur constituency where BJP's Priyanka Tibrewal and CPM’s Srijib Biswas has been pitted against the chief minister. The poll body has arranged for a three-tier security system, called in 24 companies of central forces for counting of votes.
Eight CCTV cameras have been fitted at the EVM strong room and prohibitory orders under Section 144 CrPC have been imposed within 200 metre radius of the counting centres at all three constituencies.
A high voting rate at 79.92% and 77.63% was recorded in Samserganj and Jangipur, respectively.
Cabinet Minister and senior TMC leader Firhad Hakim, who campaigned for Banerjee almost every day last one month, asserted, “We are very confident that she will win by more than 50, 000 votes”.
On the other hand, BJP’s national vice-president and the party’s former Bengal chief, Dilip Ghosh said, “The BJP will give a very good fight in Bhabanipur. If there is any violence after result, the government will have to look into it, otherwise the CBI is there.”
Banerjee was elected twice before from Bhabanipur, but during assembly elections earlier this year, she dropped Bhabanipur to contest from Nandigram in East Midnapore district. However, she lost to her former confidant-turned-BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari by 1,956 votes.
A moderate turnout was recorded in the by-election to the Bhabanipur assembly seat, where West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is contesting to retain her post, as polling in the high-profile constituency in south Kolkata passed off peacefully on Thursday.
Around 53.32 per cent turnout was recorded in the seat till 5 PM.
A high voting rate at 78.60 per cent and 76.12 per cent was recorded in Murshidabad's Samserganj and Jangipur seats respectively, where polls had to be countermanded during the April-May assembly elections following the death of two candidates.
A total of 6,97,164 voters were eligible to exercise their franchise in the three constituencies.
The Bhabanipur by-poll has become a prestige battle for Banerjee, who is presently not an MLA and has to become a member of the state legislature by November 5. The Bhabanipur election has been called following the resignation of Banerjee's party leader Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay, who stepped down to make way for her.
(With inputs from PTI)