Arjyadeep Sinha, son of deceased Trinamul leader Kajal Sinha, alleged he was roughed up by the security personnel of Khardah’s BJP candidate Joy Saha in front of a polling booth on Saturday.

“Saha accused one of our workers of being a Bangladeshi. I tried contesting his claim. His security personnel started beating me up,” he told the media from the hospital.

Arjyadeep’s father was elected as Khardah's MLA in the Assembly polls but died of Covid, necessitating a bypoll.

Saha dismissed the allegation and claimed he was attacked by Trinamul goons when he identified a false voter.

“I have told Union home minister Amit Shah that a Bangladeshi national was caught casting a false vote... This compromises our national security,” Saha said

The chief electoral officer's office asked for a report from the DM on this. Sources said the report rejected Saha's claims. The Election Commission is said to have sought a report from the state CEO.

High turnout

Bypolls to four Assembly segments in Bengal, Khardah, Gosaba, Dinhata and Santipur, on Saturday saw high voter turnout.

Till 5pm, voter turnout was 69.97 per cent in Cooch Behar's Dihata, 76.14 per cent in Nadia's Santipur, 75.91 per cent in Gosaba in South 24 Parganas and 63.90 per cent in Khardah in North 24 Parganas.

"The three Assembly segments, except Khardah, reported more than 80 per cent polling during the Assembly polls in April-May. The trends till 5pm suggest that the turnout would touch that figure and may even cross that in Santipur and Gosaba. Normally, polling percentages are lower in bypolls, but this time, it is bucking the trend," a source in the poll panel said.

A section of bureaucrats said the trend suggested people's eagerness to cast their votes in favour of the ruling party, which rolled out a slew of social welfare schemes after coming back to power for the third time.