The curse of electoral violence continued to blemish Bengal even as sporadic clashes and complaints of rigging marked the third round of the 8-phase Assembly elections. A total number of 31 seats in three districts of Howrah, Hooghly and South 24 Parganas went to polls on Tuesday.
In what looked like anything but a good advertisement for peaceful polling two persons were murdered, many others injured --- in intermittent clashes --- and no less than seven candidates were brutally roughed up by supporters of rival parties. So much so that, Dr Nirmal Maji a sitting TMC MLA was seen approaching a polling booth with a crash helmet on.
Notwithstanding the daylong tumult the third phase of elections recorded an appreciable 80 percent of polling when reports came in at 5 pm. The poll percentage could go up by 3-4 percent considering the long queues of voters still standing outside many polling booths, Election Commission officials said.
While Hooghly recorded 79.36 percent polling, it was 77.93 for Howrah. About 76.68 percent voters voted in South 24 Parganas.
The first news of bloodshed came in from Goghat in Hooghly district where Madhavi Adak the mother of Piru Adak, a BJP worker was killed by alleged Trinamool Congress supporters when she went to save her son from his attackers. The postmortem report however showed no bodily injuries, sources said. One person was reportedly arrested in the incident, police said.
Body of another BJP supporter was recovered at Dubrajpur in Birbhum district where polling would however take place at a later date. The police had to fire tear gas shells after the BJP supporters pelted stones at them following the incident.
In an unprecedented development at least seven candidates were physically attacked and in some cases their security officers were injured while trying to save them during the election day on Tuesday.
A rare scene to be witnessed in the past 10 years of Trinamool Congress rule, a TMC candidate Sujata Mandal Khan was attacked thrice in Arambagh constituency by alleged BJP supporters even as she went to ensure fair polling. The TMC candidate was chased away past a paddy field by charging saffron workers, she claimed, adding her PSO was given a fractured head and she was hit by a bamboo and dried muds.
Her estranged husband and BJP MP Soumitra Khan said “Sujata might have been rounded up by the local villagers who were not given to vote for the past 10 years … they were perhaps venting their anger.”
At nearby Tarakeshwar Arindam Chakrabarty the polling agent of BJP candidate Swapan Dasgupta was attacked by alleged TMC goons, the saffron leadership claimed, adding Chakrabarty suffered fractured head after he was beaten with a bamboo.
In neighbouring Khanakul TMC candidate Najbul Karim was reportedly beaten up by alleged ISF supporters when he went to inquire about reported booth capturing. He had to literally flee away from the area.
At Uluberia North constituency in neighbouring Howrah district sitting TMC MLA was gheraoed by the BJP supporters. Stones were pelted at his vehicle even as the ruling party politician was escorted to safety with his crash helmet on. In adjacent Uluberia South seat BJP candidate and film actor Papiya Adhikary was roughed up by alleged TMC men when she went to see an injured party worker at the general hospital. “I was hit on the head and could have been murdered but for the security staff,” the saffron candidate said.
A sector officer was suspended by the Election Commission after a set of electronic voting machines (EVM) were recovered from the house of a local TMC leader. The officials said that he had taken the EVM to that house as the sector office was closed and that he did not know that it was the house of a TMC leader. All the machines were sent out of operation by the EC, sources said.
On the other bank of the Hooghly River in South 24 Parganas where 16 seats are up for the grab intermittent bombings and booth-capturing was reported from various places. While at Falta BJP candidate Bidhab Parui was attacked by TMC candidates when he went to inquire about booth capturing Canning TMC leader Shaukat Molla complained of rampant bombing by the ISF men.
“They have gone house to house threatening the people against coming out to vote,” Molla considered a TMC strongman said.
Later from a rally at Kalchini in North Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said, “the BJP goons have serious injured our Scheduled Caste candidate Sujata, when she visited a booth. They also attacked another candidate in Khanakul. Our Canning East nominee Shaukat Molla was prevented from entering from entering a booth. I have received 100s of complaints of how the BJP is letting loose its goons in the area.”
A total of 31 Assembly constituencies in three districts of Hooghly, Howrah, and South 24 Parganas went to polls on Tuesday’s third phase of polling. There are 205 candidates in the fray in this round of polling.
