At 50 pc,bypoll turnout a dampener for Trinamool

According to Chief Electoral Officer Sunil Kr Gupta,the voting percentage at Bhawanipore would increase by 2-3 per cent as queues were seen outside some of the polling booths at 5 pm.

Four months ago,when the Assembly election was held in the state,the same seat recorded 63.71 per cent voter turnout. The turnout this time has come as a disappointment for Trinamool Congress leaders who made all efforts to see the chief minister defeat CPMs Nandini Mukherjee,a professor of Jadavpur University,by a huge margin.

The seat was vacated by her PWD Minister Subrata Bakshi to help Mamata enter the Assembly.

In Basirhat North,people were seen standing in long queues from morning. The seat fell vacant after CPM MLA Mostafa Bin Quasem died under mysterious circumstances at his official residence in Kolkata a month-and-a-half ago. Quasem had defeated Trinamool candidate by 4,000 votes. Now CPM has fielded Subid Ali Gazi against Trinamools A T M Abdulla.

The counting for both the seats will be held on September 28.