Multiple incidents of violence were reported in West Bengal, where people in eight constituencies are voting today in the fourth phase of Lok Sabha polls. While poll officials have claimed that voting has been peaceful, different political parties have filed about 1,088 complaints of alleged EVM malfunction and agents stopped from entering booths.
Workers of the ruling Trinamool Congress and the BJP clashed in some areas of the Bardhaman-Durgapur Lok Sabha constituency. In Kalna Gate, BJP candidate Dilip Ghosh faced a protest when he was going to a poll booth after receiving some complaints. Trinamool supporters blocked his way and staged a protest, raising ‘go back’ slogans. Stones were also thrown at the BJP leader’s convoy, and some cars were damaged.
Visuals captured by NDTV showed paramilitary personnel trying to keep the crowd under control. Soon after, a group of people throwing stones at Mr Ghosh’s car. A security personnel was injured in the head and somehow managed to hop into NDTV’s vehicle, blood oozing from his wound. A stone hit the NDTV cameraperson on his leg.
The unruly scenes were a far cry from a show of bonhomie between Mr Ghosh and his main opponent, Trinamool’s Kirti Azad, earlier in the day. The two leaders hugged each other during a visit to a poll booth, a rare sight in an election characterised by sharp barbs exchanged by leaders of the ruling Trinamool and the BJP, its main challenger.
Earlier in the day, Mr Ghosh told the media that “goons of TMC” were preventing polling agents from entering booths.
“When I went to villages, women asked me with folded hands if they would be able to vote or not. It is their (Trinamool) habit to threaten people. The goons of TMC are not letting the polling agents enter the booths, including the presiding officer. Last night, they threatened people in certain areas and asked them not to come out to vote. I hope the situation will improve and voting will be done smoothly,” he said, according to news agency ANI.
Trinamool has accused Mr Ghosh of trying to vitiate the atmosphere “because he has sensed defeat”.
Clashes were also reported in Birbhum and Krishnanagar constituencies, where BJP workers clashed with Trinamool supporters. BJP candidate Amrita Roy, who is taking on Trinamool’s firebrand leaer Mahua Moitra is Krishnanagar, was seen accompanying two injured supporters to the police station. In the constituency’s Tehatta area, a CPM worker was injured in a scuffle with Trinamool supporters over being present in a polling booth. In some areas of Birbhum, Trinamool workers held protests, accusing central forces of intimidating voters.
