Despite sporadic incidents of violence reported in West Bengal, polling in the second phase of the state’s Assembly elections remained high. The state registered 80.43% voter turnout, while Assam recorded 76.96% turnout.
In Bengal, Bankura recorded the highest turnout at 82.78%, while Purba Medinipur, where the high-profile Nandigram seat is, saw 81.23% voting.
The hotly-contested Nandigram seat, where Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is pitted against her former aide-turned-foe Suvendu Adhikari, reported incidents of violence and accusations of vote fraud and booth capturing being leveled by both TMC and BJP. Adhikari’s convoy was allegedly attacked by stones at two places and gheraoed as TMC supporters shouted slogans against the BJP leader. Media personnel were also hurt in the attack.
In Nandigram’s Boyal area, villagers alleged that BJP supporters stopped them from going to polling booths. As soon as Mamata Banerjee reached Boyal, BJP supporters chanted ‘Jai Shri Ram’ slogans, after which supporters of the two parties indulged in violence, as TMC leaders demanded re-polling in booth number 7.
Mamata also visited several booths across the constituency amid allegations of booth jamming and slammed the Election Commission for “inaction”, despite her party lodging several poll-related complaints, and threatened to move the courts over it.”We have lodged 63 complaints since morning. But not a single action has been taken. We will move the court over it. This is unacceptable. The EC is working as per Amit Shah’s instructions,” Banerjee said while sitting outside booth number 7 in Boyal in Nandigram.
The Election Commission has sought a detailed report from the administration in connection with the incident of violence in Boyal. Nandigram has been placed under Section 144 to avoid any untoward incident. Despite the disturbances, both Banerjee and Adhikari seem confident of their win from the seat.
Violence also broke out in Keshpur village in Bengal’s Paschim Medinipur after the murder of a TMC worker and later an attack on BJP’s polling agent Tanmoy Ghosh. A woman polling agent was also allegedly beaten up.
A ruckus was also seen at a polling booth in Debra as locals claimed that BJP candidate Bharti Ghosh had invited people from outside and was bribing them to vote for her. The police detained BJP Debra mandal president Mohan Singh.
Meanwhile in Assam, leaders of the BJP-led alliance and that led by Congress expressed confidence about their victory in the polls. Former Minister of State for Railways Rajen Gohain expressed confidence about the BJP winning more than 75 seats in the state.
Addressing a rally in Kokrajhar on Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the people of Assam have shown the “red card” to the Congress-led Grand Alliance in the state. “People of Assam have given their blessings to the NDA in the first phase of the Assembly polls. Football is a popular sport in Assam. In football parlance, the people of Assam have shown the Congress-led alliance the red card,” he said. He also accused the previous Congress governments of being a mute spectator to unbridled violence in the Bodo-dominated areas of the state.
Voting was conducted in both states amid heavy security cover as well as Covid-19 restrictions. However, the exercise went peacefully in Assam unlike in West Bengal.