Kaliganj sees peaceful bypoll, booths record above 72% turnout
Times of India | 20 June 2025
Kaliganj (Nadia): Kaliganj bypoll recorded a high turnout on Wednesday. By the end of the polling at 6pm, turnout was 72.2% despite slow voting due to rain. In the 2021 assembly polls, however, there was 84.3% polling, with TMC's Nasiruddin Ahamed receiving 53.3% of the votes. Polling was peaceful, with no report of violence, said CEO Manoj Kumar Agarwal.However, BJP candidate Ashish Ghosh alleged that many BJP voters had been prevented from reaching the booths. "The EC did nothing," he said and alleged that some BJP agents were not allowed inside the booth. Trinamool refuted the charge. TMC candidate Alifa Ahmed said: "There was no violence, and people voted enthusiastically."Ghosh's middle finger (instead of his index finger) was marked with indelible ink when he went to cast his vote, for which the EC sought a report from the DM. Ghosh alleged that the polling officer of booth no. 173 at Debagram had put the mark on the wrong finger on TMC's insistence. As Ghosh held up his middle finger to the media after the polls, TMC criticised his act.A BJP booth agent at Mira Sachindra Nath Smriti Madhyamik Vidyalaya was removed by the presiding officer after TMC complained that the former was not a resident of the area. Allegedly, a Congress agent was also removed from another booth on the same ground. BJP stated it would lodge a complaint with the poll panel.At Plassey, there was a complaint that voters were given khichdi while they were returning from the booth.As many as 265 villagers could not go to their booth on Wednesday morning after a boat capsized at Phulbagan Chowdhuripara. There's no polling booth in the village and traditionally, locals cross the Bhagirathi by boat to reach the polling station on the other side. On the day, however, boats did not ply on the turbulent river. Later, EC officials ferried the voters.