Counting of votes begins for Sagardighi assembly bypoll in West Bengal

Counting of votes for the by-election in West Bengal's Sagardighi assembly constituency in Murshidabad district began at 8 am on Thursday amid tight security, an 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 bypoll to the Sagardighi assembly seat was necessitated due to the death of three-time TMC MLA and state minister Subrata Saha in December last year.


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

Over 73 per cent voter turnout was recorded when polling was held on February 27.