Over 45% polling till 1 pm in by-election to Kaliganj assembly seat in Bengal

Kaliganj: A voter turnout of 45.23 per cent was recorded till 1 pm on Thursday in the by-election to the Kaliganj assembly seat in West Bengal's Nadia district, officials said.

They said that polling, which began at 7 am, remained peaceful as no untoward incident was reported from the constituency.

"Polling has been peaceful. There was no report of any incident from anywhere in and around the constituency," the official told PTI.

Fourteen companies of central forces have been deployed to ensure free and fair polling in the constituency.

Voting will continue till 5 pm.

Tensions flared up at a booth, where the Congress alleged that its polling agent was forcibly removed by Trinamool Congress workers. The ruling party, however, denied the charge.

The by-election was necessitated by the sudden demise of Trinamool Congress MLA Nasiruddin Ahamed in February. His daughter, Alifa Ahamed, is contesting the seat as the TMC nominee.

The BJP has fielded Ashis Ghosh as its candidate, while Congress candidate Kabil Uddin Shaikh is in the fray with the support of the CPI(M).