West Bengal: Polling for 4 municipal corporations’ elections ‘peaceful’ – Times of India

KOLKATA: Polling for elections to municipal corporations of Bidhannagar, Asansol, Siliguri and Chandannagar in West Bengal remained “more or less peaceful”, and an average voter turnout of 12.9 per cent was recorded till 9am of Saturday, an official said.
The voting for elections to four civic bodies began at 7am.
“Polling is being held peacefully. No incident of violence has been reported. We have taken a note of some disturbances from these municipal corporation areas where outsiders were found standing in voters’ queue,” the senior official of the West Bengal state election commission said.
A voter turnout of 12.73 per cent was registered in Siliguri in the first two hours of polling, the percentage in Chandannagar, Bidhannagar and Asansol were 11.62, 13.65 and 13.60 respectively, he said.
Elaborate security arrangements have been made by the police in all the four municipal areas situated in different parts of the state for the peaceful conduct of the polls, he said. Outsiders were detected in voters’ lines in two wards of Bidhangar and one in Siliguri, the official said. “Police detained BJP candidates Subhasish Das and Biswajit Mondal in the north Bengal city for their alleged involvement in creating problems outside polling booths,” the official of the state election commission said.
Altogether, 203 candidates are contesting in 41 wards in Bidhannagar, while 200 are in the fray in 47 seats of the Siliguri civic body, as per the SEC website. There are 120 aspirants for 33 wards in Chandannagore and in Asansol 430 candidates will contest in 106 wards.
There are 120 aspirants for 33 wards in Chandannagar and 430 candidates are contesting in 106 wards in Asansol. The counting of votes will be held on February 14.
In the 2015 elections, Siliguri was won by the Left Front, while the three other municipal corporations were secured by the TMC. Polls to these civic bodies, along with more than 100 others, had been postponed owing to the Covid-19 pandemic situation and are being governed by administrators.