Trinamool using police to harass voters, says ex-judge & BJP candidate Abhijit Gangopadhyay

Kolkata, May 25 (IANS) Former judge of Calcutta High Court Abhijit Gangopadhyay, who is the BJP candidate from Tamluk Lok Sabha constituency in West Bengal, on Saturday accused Trinamool Congress of using state police to intimidate voters in Nandigram. “A huge contingent of the state police entered different villages in Nandigram on Friday night and intimidated the voters. The strange thing is that one of our female party activists was killed on Friday in Sonachura area in Nandigram on Friday and the state police are harassing our party workers instead of taking action against the culprits,” Gangopadhyay said.The BJP candidate was visiting various booths in his constituency. Starting from 7 a.m. since the polling process started on Saturday, Gangopadhyay rushed from one booth to another and maintained calm even when confronted with aggressive protests by the hostile Trinamool Congress supporters after he reached a polling booth at Haldia.As he reached the booth to enquire about the polling process, a group of ruling Trinamool Congress activists started shouting slogans surrounding him. The central forces promptly maintained a distance between the protesting ruling party activists and Gangopadhyay.The BJP candidate remained unperturbed even in the face of protests, interacted with his polling agents and left the polling station. Later he spoke to the media persons and alleged that the ruling party by using the state police resorted to intimidation of voters at different pockets of Nandigram since Friday night.His opponent and Trinamool Congress candidate Debangshu Bhattacharya alleged that the BJP camp activists have been intimidating his polling agents since the first hour of the polls.“Two of my polling agents have been missing since morning. Still, Trinamool Congress will win from Tamluk provided there are free and fair polls, especially in Nandigram,” Bhattacharya said.–IANSsrc/dpb