Regional TMC leader Anarul Haque has been held in connection with the bombing incident that took place this morning ahead of polling.
Bombs were thrown in West Bengal’s Samserganj hours before the commencement of voting for the by-polls in the assembly segment at 7 AM on Thursday. Currently, Polls are initiated at Samserganj and two other assembly constituencies in West Bengal and another in Odisha, Pipili.
Bypolls are carried out on Thursday in three assembly constituencies in West Bengal – Bhabanipur, Samserganj, and Jangipur, and one more in Odisha, Pipili. The pressure is on the Bhabanipur by-polls, which will determine Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee’s destiny as a Chief Minister of WB. According to the schedule published by the Election Commission this month, the approximately 12-hour process of polling started across the assembly divisions at 7 AM on September 30th. The votes of all these seats will be counted on October 3rd.
Why is the Bhabanipur by-polls being held?
Although the Trinamool Congress party was victorious during the assembly elections with a majority earlier this year and formed a government for the third continuous time in West Bengal, CM Mamata Banerjee lost against Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Suvendu Adhikari, in a contest from the assembly constituency of Nandigram.
However, Banerjee still became the CM, upon a condition that she will have to win the state assembly within a six-month period.
Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay, agriculture minister of WB, later left his Bhabanipur seat, demanding the elections to enable the party leader to contest from her home. Certainly, Mamata Banerjee is at ease in Bhabanipur, a constituency she had won twice previously in the 2016 and 2011 elections.