Manas Kumar Ghosh and Manoj Kumar Biswas Accuse TMC of Disruptions During West Bengal By-Polls

Uttar Dinajpur (West Bengal), July 10: Manas Kumar Ghosh, the BJP candidate from the Raiganj assembly seat, alleged that the ruling TMC had tried to create disturbances in some booths during the by-polls. Voting started at 7 am and concluded at 6 pm on Wednesday.

“Voting is going on smoothly. We want voting to take place peacefully and everyone should be able to cast their vote. TMC tried to create disturbances at 2-4 booths but we opposed them and voting is going on peacefully,” Ghosh said.

The by-election in Raiganj was necessitated by the resignation of Krishna Kalyani, who switched from BJP to TMC. Krishna Kalyani is now the TMC candidate from Raiganj.

Other constituencies in West Bengal that went to the polls include Ranaghat Dakshin, Bagda, and Maniktala. Ranaghat Dakshin BJP candidate Manoj Kumar Biswas also accused TMC of creating chaos to prevent voters from exercising their rights.

“Ranaghat Dakshin is the BJP’s area. There is tremendous enthusiasm among the voters. I am confident that voters will make us win again, but TMC, supported by the administration with criminal personnel, is trying to create chaos so that no voter comes to the voting centre,” Biswas said.

Bypolls in Ranaghat Dakshin, Raiganj, and Bagda were necessitated because BJP MLAs switched to TMC. The Maniktala seat by-election was due to the death of sitting TMC MLA Sadhan Pandey.

For both BJP and TMC, these by-polls are high-stakes elections. TMC aims to continue its momentum from the 2024 Lok Sabha election, while BJP seeks to repeat its previous wins.

Other states where by-polls were held include Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, and Himachal Pradesh. Voting in these states also started at 7 am and concluded at 6 pm.