Bengal: Coach of empty passenger train catches fire, none injured
Kolkata (PTI): A coach of an empty passenger train caught fire at Katwa railway station in West Bengal's Purba Bardhaman district early on Sunday, an Eastern Railway official said.
No injuries have been reported in the incident.
Fire officials said the blaze was reported around 4.30 am in a compartment of the Katwa-Azimganj passenger train standing on platform number two and was brought under control by fire tenders after 30 minutes.
Passengers at the station noticed flames engulfing the coach, triggering a brief commotion on the platform.
Railway staffers promptly detached the affected coach to prevent the fire from spreading, the Eastern Railway official said.
He said an investigation is underway to ascertain the cause of fire.
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K'taka bypolls: Voting underway in Bagalkot, Davanagere South assembly segments
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Bengaluru (PTI): Voting was underway for bypolls to two Assembly segments, Bagalkot and Davanagere South in Karnataka on Thursday.
The polls were necessitated by the deaths of senior Congress MLAs H Y Meti and Shamanur Shivashankarappa. Counting of votes will be taken up on May 4.
Although the outcome of these by-elections is unlikely to have an immediate impact on state politics, the contest is seen as a matter of prestige for both the ruling Congress and the opposition BJP.
While the Congress faces the challenge of retaining both seats, the BJP is aiming to wrest them and deliver a setback to the ruling party.
Over 2.59 lakh eligible voters are expected to cast their votes in 319 polling stations in Bagalkot, where nine candidates are in the fray.
In Davanagere South, over 2.31 lakh voters are expected to exercise their franchsie across 284 polling stations, with 25 candidates contesting.
Elaborate security arrangements have been made for the smooth conduct of bypolls, officials said.
The BJP has fielded former MLA and 2023 defeated candidate Veerabhadrayya Charantimath from Bagalkot, and a fresh face, Srinivas T Dasakariyappa, from Davanagere South.
The Congress has given tickets to family members of the late legislators in both constituencies. Umesh Meti is the son of H Y Meti, while Samarth Mallikarjun is the grandson of Shamanur Shivashankarappa.
Samarth's father, S S Mallikarjun, is a minister in the Siddaramaiah-led Cabinet and in charge of Davanagere district, while his mother, Prabha Mallikarjun, is a Member of Parliament from the region.
The BJP is looking to make gains in the bypolls and energise its cadre ahead of the 2028 Assembly elections. For the Congress, retaining both seats is crucial, as a loss could be seen as a negative verdict on the performance of the Siddaramaiah-led dispensation.
In the 2023 Assembly elections, H Y Meti defeated Charantimath by a margin of 5,878 votes in Bagalkot, while Shivashankarappa defeated BJP's B G Ajay Kumar by 27,888 votes in Davanagere South.
