Brisk and peaceful voting in West Bengal bypolls

Basirhat Dakshin recorded 21% voter turnout, while Chowringhee, 9% in the first two hours

Brisk voting was recorded today in the first two hours of polling in West Bengal's two assembly constituencies, Chowringhee and Basirhat Dakshin, poll officials said.

"The voting in both the constituencies has been peaceful. There were no instances of violence. In Basirhat Dakshin, 21% voting was recorded, whereas in Chowringhee 9% voting was recorded in the first two hours," said Amitjyoti Bhattacharya, an election department official.

Bhattacharya said one or two EVM machines were not working and action was taken immediately.

The fate of a total of 14 candidates would be decided in the by-elections, nine in the city's prestigious Chowringhee seat and five in the Basirhat Dakshin constituency in North 24-Parganas district bordering Bangladesh.

The Chowringhee seat was won by Sikha Mitra of Trinamool Congress (TMC) in the 2011 Assembly elections. The by-election was conducted due to Mitra's resignation from the TMC.

The TMC has fielded Nayna Bandyopadhyay, wife of party leader Sudip Bandyopadhyay, from the Chowringhee Assembly segment, while the BJP has put up Ritesh Tiwari. Santosh Pathak is the Congress candidate and Faiyaz Ahmed Khan is the CPI(M) nominee for the seat.

The Basirhat Dakshin Assembly seat was won by CPI(M)'s Narayan Mukhopadhyay in 2011. The by-election was called for this seat due to his death.

Former footballer Dipendu Biswas is the TMC candidate, while the BJP has fielded Samik Bhattacharya.

Asit Majumder and Mrinal Chakrabarty are contesting Basirhat Dakshin as Congress and CPI(M) candidates, respectively.

The Assembly by-election is being regarded as an acid test for the ruling TMC in the backdrop of its MPs and functionaries being questioned and arrested by the CBI in connection with multi-crore Saradha chit fund scam.