Sporadic violence mars West Bengal civic polls

Kolkata/Murshidabad/Jalpaiguri, February 27

Sporadic incidents of violence marred elections to 107 municipalities across West Bengal on Sunday even as a voter turnout of around 49.91 per cent was recorded till 1 PM, election officials said.

Elections were scheduled in 108 municipalities, but the TMC had won one civic body uncontested in Dinhata in Coochbehar district a few days back, a State Election Commission official said.

He said the polling began at 7 AM and will continue till 5 PM.

Till 1 PM, 49.91 per cent of 95.6 lakh voters exercised their franchise in more than 2,000 wards amid tight security and strict adherence to COVID-19 guidelines.

“Sporadic incidents of violence were reported. We noted disturbances in a few areas and took action. The overall situation, however, was peaceful,” the senior SEC official.

Few outsiders were found in queues at some polling booths in Barrackpore and Dum Dum municipalities in North 24 Parganas district.

In Bhatpara municipality, the pocket borough of BJP MP Arjun Singh, the situation was tense as sporadic clashes erupted between TMC and BJP supporters.

Singh had heated arguments with Trinamool Congress members when he went to some wards in Bhatpara Municipality.

A BJP candidate smashed an EVM, alleging rigging by TMC members, in one of the wards. The TMC denied the allegations of foul play.

Singh demanded that even local body elections in West Bengal be held under the Election Commission of India.

“The SEC has become an agency of Trinamool Congress. We think it is high time to ask for the amendment of rules to ensure polling is not reduced to a mockery of democracy,” he told reporters.

In Murshidabad district, the Congress party leader in Lok Sabha, Adhir Chowdhury, was seen rushing from one area to another as reports of Congress and the Left candidates being beaten up surfaced in the media.

In Baharampur Municipality, TMC activists agitated before the car of Chowdhury, alleging he was moving around from booth to booth to threaten polling agents of the Trinamool Congress and influence voters.

Denying the allegations as “baseless”, Chowdhury said that he is a resident of Baharampur and has every right to move around in the town.

In Rajpur-Sonarpur Municipality, a polling station was ransacked by unidentified goons and electronic voting machines were damaged. The SEC has sought a report in this case.

Motorcycle-borne political workers roamed the streets in various municipal areas of North 24 Parganas and allegedly prevented voters from going to the polling booths.

A reporter and a cameraperson of a private channel were assaulted in the North Dum Dum municipal area.

In Arambag area of Hooghly district, Left Front candidates were allegedly beaten up by goons affiliated to the TMC, a charge denied by the ruling party.

In Malda district, wards 4, 8 and 12 of English Bazar Municipality witnessed some tensions with the police acting swiftly to manage the situation.

BJP candidate of ward 8, Sanjay Sharma, alleged that the booths in Ramakrishna Mission School were captured by the TMC, a charge the ruling party rubbished.

Congress leader Isha Khan Chowdhury alleged that TMC supporters were not allowing the party’s candidate in ward 15 to enter polling station 155.

In Jalpaiguri Municipality’s ward number 12, Congress candidate Narayan Chandra Sarkar alleged that he was thrown out of a booth by police while TMC members were campaigning at the same place for their party’s candidate.

TMC state general secretary Kunal Ghosh accused Arjun Singh and Adhir Choudhury of influencing voters.

“Out of 11,280 booths spread across 108 municipalities in the state, there are allegations of irregularities from only 0.2 per cent of booths which also needs to be verified,” he said.

Long queues were seen outside most booths as people turned up early in large numbers to cast their votes.

A total of 44,000 police personnel were deployed for the civic polls, with at least one armed law enforcer in every booth.

In all, 135 observers, including 10 special senior observers and 108 general observers, are keeping a close watch on the polling.

Around 95.6 lakh voters are eligible to exercise their franchise to decide the fate of 8,160 candidates.

The ruling TMC is up against BJP, CPI(M)-led Left Front and Congress. Unable to secure party tickets, many TMC leaders are fighting as Independents.

Polling was not held in 103 wards as TMC won most of these seats uncontested.

The votes will be counted on March 2.