New Delhi [India], November 2 (ANI): The election commission of India will announce the results of by-elections in three parliamentary constituencies and 30 assembly constituencies held on October 30 today.

Kolkata Oct 30 PTI A high voter turnout of nearly 71 per cent was recorded till 5 pm on Saturday in West Bengals four assembly constituencies where bypolls were held an official said Barring a few stray incidents polling which began at 7 am passed off peacefully in all four constituencies the Election Commission official said According to the official Dinhata registered 6997 per cent turnout till 5 pm Shantipur 7614 per cent Khardah 6390 per cent and Gosaba SC seat 7591 per cent The final poll percentage at 630 pm will be available only on Sunday Voting has been peaceful and there was no problem anywhere across the four segments he told PTI Scuffle between TMC and BJP supporters was however reported outside a booth in Khardah where saffron party candidate Joy Saha apparently caught hold of a fake voter and handed him over to the police The man is a Bangladeshi infiltrator He came here to cast his vote in favour of the TMC Saha said TMC candidate and state minister Sovandeb Chattopadhyay dubbed the allegations as baseless Security personnel had to use baton to disperse the crowd outside the Khardah booth According to TMC members deceased MLA Kajal Sinhas son Arjodeep was injured in the melee and had to be hospitalised The ruling party activists gheraoed Sahas car and staged a sit-in on G T road for some time Kajal Sinhas death due to COVID-19 necessitated the bypoll in Khardah TMC MP Sougata Roy claimed that Sahas security personnel assaulted Arjodeep People of Khardah will give a befitting to the BJP for beating up Kajal Sinhas son Joy Sahas security personnel mercilessly assaulted Arjodeep Roy said During the day senior CPIM leader Tanmay Bhattacharya had also claimed that his car was attacked when he was about to enter a party office in Khardah He accused TMC activists of carrying out the attack an allegation that the ruling party denied Similar brawls among activists of rival political parties were also reported from Shantipur in Nadia district and Gosaba in South 24 Parganas district In Santipur Nadia district BJPs Jagannath Sarkar gave up his assembly membership to retain his Lok Sabha seat Gosaba in South 24 Parganas fell vacant following the death of sitting TMC MLA Jayanta Naskar In Dinhata constituency of Coochbehar district TMC candidate Udayan Guha accused Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Nisith Pramanik of entering booth number 232 with armed guards Such an incident has created a reign of fear in the area This is unacceptable We have complained to the EC Guha told reporters Pramanik whose resignation from the assembly led to the bypoll in Dinhata denied the allegations as politically motivated The EC had ordered strict maintenance of COVID-19 guidelines during the by-elections to the four seats It deployed 27 companies of central armed forces in Dinhata 22 in Santipur 20 in Khardah and 23 in Gosaba an official said PTI SCH PNT RMS RMS

Kolkata Oct 30 PTI Peaceful polling is on in four assembly seats in West Bengal where by-poll is being held on Saturday and about 12 per cent of the electorate cast their votes in the first two hours an Election Commission official said Polling began at 7 am and till 9 am Dinhata registered 1112 per cent turnout Shantipur 154 per cent Khardah 114 per cent and Gosaba SC 1037 per cent the official said Polling is absolutely peaceful and there is not a single incident of any problem anywhere in the four constituencies Polling is taking place very smoothly he told PTI The EC has however sought a report on the heated exchange of words between BJP and Trinamool Congress workers at Khardah constituency in North 24 Parganas district he said There were complaints of similar incidents from Shantipur in Nadia district and Gosaba in South 24 Parganas district the EC official said Most of these incidents took place outside the booths or polling stations There is an adequate number of central forces as well as state police who are handling the situation with utmost precision We are however keeping a close watch on everything he said The EC has deployed 27 companies of central armed forces in Dinhata 22 in Santipur 20 in Khardah and 23 in Gosaba an official said PTI SC KK KK KK

Kolkata Oct 30 PTI Voting began at 7 AM on Saturday for by-polls to the four assembly constituencies of Dinhata in Cooch Behar Shantipur in Nadia Khardah in North 24 Parganas and Gosaba in South 24 Parganas districts an election commission of India ECI official saidIn Dinhata TMCs heavyweight north Bengal leader Udayan Guha is fighting to reclaim the seat which BJP had snatched from him by a whisker in polls held last AprilThe by-election at Dinhata were necessitated by the resignation of Nisith Pramanik now Union Minister of State for Home Affairs who favoured keeping his Lok Sabha membership over sitting in the opposition in West Bengals assemblyGuha a two-time MLA from Dinhata is up against BJPs Ashok Mandal who as a TMC candidate had defeated him a Forward Bloc candidate then in 2006The bypoll to Shantipur was necessitated by the resignation of BJP MP Jagannath Sarkar who too resigned from the assembly seat in favour of retaining his Lok Sabha membershipState minister Sovandeb Chattopadhyay who resigned from Bhabanipur to facilitate Chief Minister Mamata Banerjees election to the Assembly is fighting from Khardah where TMCs Kajal Sinha died due to COVID-19 just days after polls to the seat were held Bypoll to the Gosaba seat in Sunderbans was also necessitated by the death of TMCs Jayanta Naskar who too was suffering from CovidThe EC has deployed 27 companies of central armed forces in Dinhata 22 in Santipur 20 in Khardah and 23 in Gosaba an official said PTI SCH JRC JRC JRC

New Delhi [India], October 30 (ANI): The stage is set for by-elections in three parliamentary constituencies and 30 assembly constituencies in different states today.

Kolkata Oct 27 PTI Campaigning for by-polls in four assembly constituencies of West Bengal held amid Covid restrictions ended on Wednesday evening Voting for the four seats Shantipur in Nadia district Dinhata in Coochbehar district Khardah in North 24 Parganas and Gosaba in South 24 Praganas will take place on October 30 The EC did not allow huge rallies during electioneering given the coronavirus situation and the parties depended on door-to-door visits and small gatherings at meetings conforming to COVID-19 guidelines The TMC and the BJP are the main contenders in the assembly by-polls in all four seats Apart from Trinamool Congress national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee senior party leaders Sougata Roy Firhad Hakim campaigned for their party candidates - state agriculture minister Sovandeb Chatterjee Khardah Brajakishore Goswami Shantipur Subrata Mondal Gosaba Udayan Guha Dinhata- after Durga Puja Banerjee and other Trinamool Congress TMC leaders highlighted the rise in fuel price the alleged communal agenda of the saffron party and the misuse of central agencies against political opponents by the BJP government in their speeches and projected Mamata Banerjee as the only leader capable of dislodging Narendra Modi from power in their meetings which were few in numbers due to the COVID situation For the BJP state president of the party Sukanta Majumdar leader of opposition in the state Assembly Suvendu Adhikari national vice president Dilip Ghosh and other state-level leaders including Sayantan Basu Locket Chatterjee were among the main speakers The BJP has fielded Ashok Mandal Dinhata Joy Saha Khardah Palash Raha Gosaba and Niranjan Biswas Shantipur Leaders of the saffron party particularly Suvendu Adhikari harped on the attacks on Durga Puja pandals and religious institutions in several parts of Bangladesh and the alleged silence of Trinamool Congress on the issue which they said was an attempt to win over the Bengali Hindu electorate The BJP also expressed apprehension that the situation of West Bengal will not be favourable for the Bengali Hindus in the coming days accusing the Trinamool Congress of resorting to appeasement politics This drew a sharp response from the TMC with Abhishek Banerjee accusing the BJP of trying to drive a wedge in society for securing votes BJP leader Sukanta Majumder said the TMC tried to prevent the saffron party from undertaking door-to-door campaign in places like Khardah Dinhata and Gosaba but we still managed to reach out to a cross-section of voters who are disillusioned with the reign of terror unleashed by TMC activists If voters can cast their franchise freely the results will not be to the liking of the Trinamool Congress he said While the winning TMC candidates had died of COVID-19 after the elections in Khardah and Gosaba in Dinhata and Shantipur the winning BJP candidates had resigned to retain their seats as MPs PTI SUS MM MM

Kolkata Oct 25 PTI BJP West Bengal unit president Sukanta Majumdar on Monday alleged that the North 24 Parganas district administration at the behest of the ruling TMC was hindering the saffron partys door-to-door campaign in Khardah assembly seat where by-election will be held on October 30 The police raised objections to the campaign in view of the COVID-19 situation he claimed Objections were raised by the police twice as we were campaigning door to door in Khardah Bazar and Station Road areas of the constituency though there were only five persons in our group We cannot take the responsibility of people who assembled there to support our candidate Joy Saha he told PTI Majumdar along with the party nominee continued the campaign as the police asked others not to assemble there The Balurghat MP said he saw a groundswell of support from people who have been terrorised by the Trinamool Congress We found that many shops were closed in the area and later came to know that traders were threatened not to open their outlets by TMC activists during our visit to the locality This is the situation in West Bengal We tried to reach out to the people he said Saha is pitted against West Bengal agriculture minister and veteran TMC leader Sovandeb Chattopadhyay in Khardah a seat won by state finance minister Amit Mitra twice in 2011 and 2016 Khardah had also elected TMCs Kajal Sinha in the assembly elections earlier this year Sinha died due to COVID-19 before the results were declared necessitating the bypoll State minister and senior TMC leader Firhad Hakim denied Majumdars allegation and said the BJPs state president know that they will lose the elections No one is with the BJP Our candidate will win with a massive margin he told reporters Shortly after the assembly poll results were announced in May Chattopadhyay who won from Bhabanipur vacated the seat to facilitate Chief Minister Mamata Banerjees return to the assembly from thereBanerjee lost to BJPs Suvendu Adhikari in Nandigram during the April-May assembly polls Bypolls will also be held in Gosaba Dinhata and Shantipur assembly constituencies on October 30 PTI SUS BDC BDC

Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], October 4 (ANI): The Left Front on Monday announced a list of candidates for bypolls in four Assembly constituencies to be held on October 30 in West Bengal.

Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], September 3 (ANI): Bypolls in seven constituencies in West Bengal has now become the latest political flashpoint between ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) and opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) who have locked horns over the issue with the latter attempting to postpone the pending elections.

New Delhi [India], September 1 (ANI): The Election Commission of India (ECI) will hold a meeting with West Bengal Chief Secretary on Wednesday via video conferencing.