Kolkata, Nov 30 (IANS) A little over half of the total number of voters exercised their franchise peacefully in the prestigious Kolkata South Lok Sabha by-poll here Wednesday.
‘Till 6 p.m., 51.55 percent of the voters had exercised their democratic right. But the number may go up as reports are still coming in,’ chief electoral officer (West Bengal) Sunil Gupta told mediapersons.
The constituency, which has consistently elected West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to the Lok Sabha over the last 20 years, is all set to see a first-time MP. Banerjee resigned from the seat after winning the assembly by-election from Bhowanipore Sep 28.
State Trinamool president and Minister Subrata Bakshi, who quit as a legislator from Bhowanipore to pave the way for his leader’s maiden entry into the assembly, has been rewarded by Banerjee with the party nomination for this bypoll.
The CPI-M has nominated the party’s student wing Students Federation of India general secretary Ritabrata Banerjee. There are three Independents also in the fray.
Among the VVIP voters were Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, her predecessor Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, former Lok Sabha speaker Somnath Chatterjee, union minister Mukul Roy, state Congress president Pradip Bhattacharya and several state ministers, leading actors and industrialists.
Banerjee, who won half a dozen times in a row from the seat, cast her vote at the Mitra Institution booth. She flashed the victory sign claiming: ‘We will win by a larger margin.’
In 2009, Banerjee had trounced her nearest rival Rabin Deb of the CPI-M by 219,571 votes.
Around 20,000 security personnel were deployed, as it is the first election in the state after Maoist leader Kishenji was gunned down by the security forces last Thursday.
The constituency has over 15 lakh voters for whom the Election Commission deputed 8,434 polling personnel on duty at 1,902 polling stations.
The votes would be counted Dec 4.
