Security beefed up for south Kolkata bypoll

Adequate security arrangements have been made for tomorrow's byelection to the prestigious Kolkata South Lok Sabha seat.

"Around 20,000 personnel have been deployed to ensure a free and smooth election tomorrow," West Bengal's Chief Electoral Officer Sunil Gupta said.

The polls, to be held over seven Assembly segments constituting the Lok Sabha seat, would begin from 8.00 am and end at 5.00 pm, Gupta said.

A total of 15.60 lakh voters will decide the fate of five candidates, including three independents.

Of the total 1902 booths, 325 have been declared sensitive and 335 hypersensitive, the CEO said. He said that would be three election observers.

Gupta said that 118 sector officers would oversee the security in the constituency.

The by-poll to the Kolkata Dakshin Lok Sabha seat, which was vacated by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee following her election to the WB Assembly, will tomorrow see a direct contest between ruling Trinamool Congress and CPI(M) in its stronghold.

The fight will be between Trinamool's state president Subrata Bakshi and Ritabrata Banerjee of CPI(M). There are three Independents in the fray in the constituency, which has an electorate of 15 lakh.

BJP and Trinamool's ally Congress have not put up candidates. The seat fell vacant after Banerjee resigned as MP and successfully fought the Assembly by-election from Bhowanipore for her maiden entry into the state legislature.

The constituency is locally known as the chief minister's pocket borough -- Banerjee has won here six times in a row since 1991.

In the 2004 general elections, this was the only constituency where Trinamool Congress had registered its lone victory.

Banerjee had won by a whopping margin of 2,19,571 votes over CPI(M) candidate Rabin Deb in the 2009 parliamentary elections from the seat.Dakshin Lok Sabha seat, which was vacated by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee following her election to the WB Assembly, will tomorrow see a direct contest between ruling Trinamool Congress and CPI(M) in its stronghold.