A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate was attacked and another was gheraoed on Saturday during the penultimate phase of election in West Bengal across eight Lok Sabha constituencies spread across the southern part of the State.
Across the eight seats that cover five districts, a 79.47% turnout was reported, according to the latest figure. Bishnupur, a seat reserved for Scheduled Caste candidates, registered 83.95% polling, while Purulia, reserved for Scheduled Tribe candidates, recorded the lowest voting of 75.37%.
The Tamluk constituency witnessed 80.22% polling and Kanthi registered 77.75%. Polling in Jhargram was 81.53% and Ghatal 80.73%. In Medinipur, 79.75% of the voters exercised their franchise, while Bankura registered 79.03% polling.
Pranat Tudu, the BJP candidate from Jhargram, was attacked allegedly by Trinamool Congress supporters at Garbeta. The mob threw stones on the vehicle of the BJP candidate and a person deployed for Mr. Tudu’s security sustained head injury. Mr. Tudu and a Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) man deployed in his security were seen running away from the mob.
Chaos reigned in the area for almost an hour and there was no intervention of quick response teams of the Election Commission. Vehicles of media personnel were also attacked at Garbeta.
Demand for re-polling
The BJP candidate said he was getting reports of electoral malpractices and a section of residents have been threatening the voters of the party since Friday night. Yet, when he visited the area, he was attacked by Trinamool supporters.
“If security forces personnel were not present, the people would have lynched me,” Mr. Tudu said. Another BJP candidate, Hiran Chatterjee, who is contesting from the Ghatal Lok Sabha constituency, also faced protests by Trinamool supporters in Keshpur area of the constituency who surrounded his vehicles and raised slogans.
Mr. Chatterjee, who raised the demand for re-polling in Keshpur, said the region had turned into a “Pakistan or Afghanistan” during the polling.
While places like Garbeta and Keshpur, which have a history of electoral violence remained on the boil, polling was peaceful at Nandigram, which had witnessed political violence earlier this week resulting in the murder of a 56-year-old woman BJP supporter.
