West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s fate in the state cabinet will be decided by her home turf Bhabanipur, which will go to bypolls on Thursday. Banerjee is pitted against BJP’s Priyanka Tibrewal and CPI(M)’s Srijib Biswas. The Congress hasn’t fielded any candidate for the bypolls. The results will be counted on October 3.
Bhabanipur, which has over 2 lakh voters, houses the CM’s residence in Kalighat. She has represented the seat twice in the assembly and is aiming for a third win, which is crucial for her to remain at the top post after she lost in Nandigram by a thin margin to aide-turned-bête noire Suvendu Adhikari, the Leader of the Opposition in Bengal assembly.
The bypoll became necessary after TMC leader Sovandeb Chatterjee, who had won from the seat in the assembly polls held in April-May, resigned to pave way for Banerjee to contest from the constituency and retain her cabinet berth.
Ahead of the bypoll, stringent security arrangements were in place in Bhabanipur with the deployment of 15 companies of central forces. Prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the CrPC were also imposed within 200m of the polling centres where voting will take place.
Here’s a look at the vital statistics of Bhabanipur:
— Total number of voters: 2,62,570.
— Non-Bengali voters make up 43% of the population spanning eight wards. Here is the breakup: Ward 63: 98%; Ward 70: 63%; Ward 71: 40%; Ward 72: 30%; Ward 73: 40%; Ward 74: 50%; Ward 77: 10%; Ward 82: 20%
— There are 98 polling centres and 287 booths. Every booth will have 3 personnel from the central forces.
— Heavy radio flying squad will also be stationed, besides 23 mobile vans.
— All booths will have provision for the Election Commission to watch the action live through a webcast.
Bhabanipur’s Past Polling History
In the 2021 assembly elections, Bhabanipur’s polling percentage stood at 61.36%. In this election, TMC polled 73,505 votes, registering 57.71 percent, while the BJP 44,786 votes, accounting for 35.16 percent. The Congress polled just about 5,211 votes — a mere 4 percent.
In the 2016 election, the TMC polled 65,520 votes (47.67 percent), while the Congress stood second by polling 40,219 votes (29.26 percent). The BJP stood a distant third by polling 26,299 votes (19.13 percent).
In the 2011 election, the TMC had secured 73,635 votes (77.46 percent), while the Left managed 19,422 votes (20.43 percent).
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