Voting begins for Bengal’s Sagardighi assembly bypoll

Sagardighi (West Bengal): Voting for the by-election in West Bengal’s Sagardighi assembly constituency in Murshidabad district began at 7 am on Monday, amid tight security, a poll official said.

Candidates of the ruling Trinamool Congress, opposition BJP and the Congress-Left alliance are the main contestants.

The TMC and BJP fielded Debashish Banerjee and Dilip Saha respectively, while the Left-supported Congress candidate is Bayron Biswas.

The by-poll to the Sagardighi assembly seat was necessitated by the death of its three-time TMC MLA and state minister Subrata Saha in December last year.

Apart from more than 60 per cent minority population, the rural seat also has around 18.5 per cent Scheduled Caste and 6.5 per cent Scheduled Tribe population. It has approximately 2.3 lakh voters.