Violence broke out during the ongoing voting for the Lok Sabha by-election in Asansol, West Bengal on Tuesday (April 12, 2022). BJP candidate from Asansol seat Agnimitra Paul alleged that she was attacked by TMC workers. He said, “TMC men attacked us, pelted stones at our convoy. The police is not doing anything.”
Agnimitra Paul further said, “TMC men beat up our security personnel with bamboo sticks. No matter how much Mamata Banerjee tries, BJP is winning here.”
Voting for the by-election to the Asansol seat began at 7 am on Tuesday. The seat fell vacant after the resignation of MP Babul Supriyo. Babul Supriyo has moved from BJP to TMC.
TMC has fielded famous actor Shatrughan Sinha from Asansol seat. Out of a total of 2,012 booths in Asansol in West Bardhaman district, 680 and all 300 in Ballygunge in South Kolkata have been identified as vulnerable. However, there has been no report of violence in Ballygunge so far.
By-elections being held in these states
Meanwhile, by-elections have also started for Bochahan assembly seat of Muzaffarpur in Bihar. In this by-election, 2.90 lakh voters will decide the fate of 13 candidates, of whom three are women. Around 1.53 lakh men, 1.47 lakh women and four third gender voters will exercise their franchise at 350 polling stations where 1500 security personnel are deployed. On the other hand, voting is going on in Khairagarh assembly seat of Chhattisgarh and Kolhapur assembly seat of Maharashtra.