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Ludhiana/Ahmedabad, Jun 19 (PTI) Bypolls were held in five Assembly segments across Punjab, West Bengal, Gujarat and Kerala on Thursday, with the Kaliganj seat in West Bengal registering a polling percentage of nearly 70 by 5 pm.

The polling that commenced at 7 am and concluded at 6 pm was largely peaceful, with the exception of a few isolated incidents, officials said.

While the deaths of the incumbent MLAs necessitated the bypolls in one seat each in Gujarat, West Bengal and Punjab, the resignation of two legislators led to the polling in Kerala and another seat in Gujarat.

At Kaliganj in West Bengal's Nadia district, a voter turnout of 69.85 per cent was recorded till 5 pm.

"Polling has been peaceful. There was no report of any incident from anywhere in and around the constituency. Till 5 pm, the polling was 69.85 per cent," an election official told PTI.

Sources said the polling percentage may go further up as there were queues outside polling booths.

The bypoll was necessitated by the death of Trinamool Congress (TMC) MLA Nasiruddin Ahamed in February. His daughter, Alifa Ahamed, was fielded in the bypoll by the ruling TMC.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) nominated Ashis Ghosh for the contest, while Congress candidate Kabil Uddin Shaikh is in the fray with the support of the CPI(M).

Fourteen companies of central forces were deployed across the constituency to ensure free-and-fair polling.

Minor tension was reported from a few booths.

At Chandghar Adarsha Vidyapith's booth number 56, the Congress alleged that its polling agent was forcibly removed by TMC workers, an allegation denied by the ruling party.

Ghosh, after casting his vote, expressed confidence of victory.

However, he objected to the polling procedure, alleging that officials deliberately applied the indelible ink on his middle finger instead of the index finger under the "insistence" of TMC agents.

"First, they missed putting the ink on my finger when I went to vote. Then, after I noticed it and returned, they deliberately marked my middle finger. This is a pre-planned political conspiracy by the TMC," the BJP candidate alleged.

Poll officials confirmed that no rules were violated but said they have sought a report from the district magistrate regarding the incident.

Election Commission (EC) officials removed party flags and festoons found within 100 metres of several polling booths. Voters were not allowed to carry mobile phones inside polling stations and were instructed to deposit the devices at designated spots under the supervision of EC-appointed volunteers.

Kerala's Nilambur constituency saw a steady voter turnout of 59.68 per cent till 3 pm.

People came out in good numbers at the 263 polling booths across the constituency, which has over 2.32 lakh voters.

Among the 10 contestants, the key contenders are ruling LDF's pick M Swaraj, Aryadan Shoukath (of the Congress-led UDF), TMC state convenor and independent candidate P V Anvar and Mohan George of the BJP-led NDA.

The UDF candidate expressed confidence about winning by a huge margin.

Swaraj was also confident of securing a win.

Anvar, whose resignation as the MLA from Nilambur necessitated the bypoll, told reporters about the developments carried out in the constituency when he was representing it.

He also claimed that neither of the three fronts -- UDF, LDF and NDA -- discussed local issues like wild-animal attacks during their campaigns.

He was also confident that he would get a good share of the UDF and LDF votes.

Anvar, presently the state convener of the TMC, resigned as the MLA of the constituency following his severing of ties with the CPI(M)-led LDF over certain allegations levelled by him against Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his close aides.

In Gujarat, the Visavadar seat in Junagadh district recorded a poll percentage of 54.61 and Kadi in Mehsana district saw a voter turnout of 54.49 per cent till 5 pm.

The state government declared a public holiday on Thursday in both the constituencies.

The BJP, Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) fielded their candidates in the two seats.

The Visavadar seat was lying vacant since December 2023, after the then AAP legislator Bhupendra Bhayani resigned and joined the ruling BJP.

The Kadi seat, reserved for Scheduled Caste (SC) candidates, fell vacant on February 4 following the death of BJP MLA Karsan Solanki.

In the Visavadar seat, BJP candidate Kirit Patel and Congress nominee Nitin Ranpariya cast their votes in the early hours.

The AAP fielded its former Gujarat president, Gopal Italia, from Visavadar. He is not registered as a voter in the constituency.

Despite its near-total dominance in the state, the BJP has not won the Visavadar seat since 2007. Party leaders are hopeful this time of overcoming the 18-year jinx.

In the 2022 Assembly polls, Bhayani defeated BJP's Harshad Ribadiya, a Congress turncoat and former MLA, by 7,063 votes.

The BJP has fielded Rajendra Chavda from Kadi, while the Congress has given ticket to former MLA Ramesh Chavda.

Chavda won the seat in 2012, but lost it to the BJP's Karsanbhai Solanki in 2017.

Like Visavadar, Kadi will also witness a three-way fight, with the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP fielding Jagdish Chavda.

In the 182-member Gujarat Assembly, the BJP has 161 legislators, the Congress 12 and the AAP four. While one seat is with the Samajwadi Party, two are with independents.

Punjab saw a voter turnout of 49.07 per cent till 3 pm in the Ludhiana West seat.

The seat fell vacant following the death of AAP MLA Gurpreet Bassi Gogi in January.

AAP candidate Sanjeev Arora went to a polling station along with his family members to exercise his franchise. Before casting his vote, Arora paid obeisance at a gurdwara, a temple and the Dargah Pir in Phillaur.

Talking to reporters, Arora appealed to people to come out in large numbers to cast their votes.

"Please come out to vote and have maximum voting today," he said.

Congress candidate Bharat Bhushan Ashu, BJP nominee Jiwan Gupta and Shiromani Akali Dal's (SAD) Parupkar Singh Ghuman also cast their votes.

Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann appealed to voters to cast their votes.

"My appeal to the voters of Ludhiana West is that you must exercise your right to vote. You must fulfil your duty for the development and progress of your area. Do not consider today a holiday, definitely go and cast your vote," Mann said in a post in Punjabi on X.

The EC said webcasting was done at all but one polling station of the five seats.

A total of 1,354 polling stations were set up for the bypolls and webcasting was held at 1,353, the poll authority said.

This was also the first time that the EC provided a mobile-phone deposit facility to voters.

The deposit centres were set up outside polling stations. So far, no such facility was available and some voters hid phones in their clothes and carried those inside polling stations, which is against rules.

The bypoll results will be declared on June 23. 

(This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)