The West Bengal civic body polls witnessed a voter turnout of around 30 per cent till 11 am on Saturday amid allegations of fake voting by ruling TMC workers.
While a turnout of 30.42 per cent was registered at the Asansol Municipal Corporation, that in Biddhannagar Municipal Corporation was 29.81 per cent, Chandannagar Municipal Corporation 25.69 per cent, and Siliguri Municipal Corporation 28.07 per cent.
Elections to these four municipal corporations were last held in 2015 and kept getting delayed owing to the Covid-19 pandemic. Voting began at 7 am and will continue till 5 pm. The counting of votes will be done on February 14.
Opposition parties alleged that the Trinamool Congress brought in fake voters in Biddhannagar, Siliguri and Asansol. According to the allegations, at Ward 31 in Biddhannagar, fake voters were seen hiding in the toilet of a polling booth. The BJP said that the police were merely mute spectators while their candidates chased out these fake voters.
In Asansol, Chaitali Tiwari, the BJP candidate and wife of former mayor Jitendra Tiwari, was allegedly heckled outside a polling booth. The TMC has denied the allegations and claimed that the BJP was creating an unnecessary drama.
Voters queue up outside a polling station in Biddhannagar on Saturday. (Express Photo: Partha Paul)
On the other hand, the police issued a notice to BJP leader Jitendra Tiwari and asked him to leave his armed security guards outside while visiting polling booths. The cops also detained BJP candidates Subhasish Das and Biswajit Mondal in Siliguri for their alleged involvement in creating ruckus outside polling booths.
Meanwhile, the West Bengal State Election Commission has directed the police to stop the entry of outsiders in Bidhannagar from New Town and Beliaghata areas. The directive was issued after the election panel received information that outsiders were trying to enter Bidhannagar to influence voters.
In Bidhannagar, 203 candidates are in the fray for 41 seats, while in Siliguri, there are 200 nominees in 47 wards. In Siliguri, there are 594 polling stations of which 89 are sensitive ones.
While there are 120 candidates in Chandannagar’s 33 wards, Asansol has 431 nominees for 106 wards.
In 2015, the Siliguri Municipal Corporation was won by the Left Front and Congress alliance, while the three other civic bodies were won by the TMC.