Heavy clouds and incessant rains for the past 24 hours threaten to reduce the voter turnout in the Bhawanipur by-election, where Mamata Banerjee is engaged in a battle to retain the post of chief minister. A big win for Banerjee would help her have the upper hand in state politics, while a loss would see her stepping down as the chief minister.
According to India Meteorological Department (IMD), a high depression accumulated over the Bay of Bengal will continue to cause rain for another day before settling down by Thursday evening.
If the rains continue and roads are inundated, the upper class and middle class non-Bengali voters may not to venture out to vote. This would mean that the BJP would be deprived of a chance to claim moral victory of sorts by reducing the margin of Banerjee below 20,000.
The constituency has around 35 per cent non-Bengali voters— Marwari, Gujarati, Maharastrian and Biharis—and 25 per cent Muslim voters, who are likely to back the TMC. While the rest of the voters are divided between the TMC, Congress and the BJP, it remains to be seen if Banerjee would be able to attract Congress voters as the party hasn’t fielded a candidate. The BJP may be in trouble if the non-Bengali upper class Marwari and Gujaratis, who have always backed Narendra Modi in the past, decide not to come out to vote because of the rains.
Fifteen deputy commissioners of police, and 35 companies of central armed police forces have been deployed in Bhawanipur assembly constituency. Poll officials have been arriving at polling stations braving rains and wading through water, with VVPAT and EVMs wrapped in plastic.
The Calcutta High Court had, on Tuesday, lashed out at the chief secretary for reporting to the Election Commission that weather would be fine in September to hold the by-election.
Several areas of south Kolkata have been submerged. In Bhawanipur alone, around 86 water pumps have been deployed to remove water. However, heavy downpour in the past 12 hours has made the task difficult.
In north Kolkata, two people, including a seven-year-old child, died after a 100-year-old house Ahiritola, which was declared “dangerous house to live in '' by Kolkata municipality, collapsed due to the incessant rain on Wednesday.
Fire Minister Sujit Bose, who rushed to the spot, along with Kolkata corporation administrator Firad Hakim, said, “We fear many are still trapped. We are trying to save them. They had refused to move out of the house.”