Stage 1 Lok Sabha elections in Bengal are marred by violence; TMC and BJP say stones were thrown

As the Cooch Behar, Alipurduar, and Jalpaiguri constituencies went to polls for the first round of the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections on Friday, violence broke out across West Bengal.

 

The Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have charged one another of injuring their poll workers and agents and interfering with the state’s election process.

While BJP activists were accused of hitting TMC workers in the Sitalkuchi and Chotosalbari Gram Panchayat areas, TMC supporters were accused of stone-pelting in Chandamari, which resulted in an injury to the president of the BJP booth. According to sources who spoke to Indian Express, during the first hour of voting, explosives were purportedly found in the home of a BJP booth president in Dinhata-II, and a TMC polling camp in Sitai was assaulted.

 

Additionally, BJP employees said that they were assaulted at Natabari, and that wounded cadres were sent to the Tufhangunj hospital in Cooch Behar. In addition, the saffron party said that TMC had demolished BJP Karyakarta members’ homes. The party also claimed that the BJP booth president was hurt as a result of TMC employees in Chandamari throwing stones to stop voters from casting their ballots.

The governing TMC counterclaimed, accusing the BJP of inciting violence in the state. The party headed by Mamata Banerjee said that BJP leader and Union minister Nisith Pramanik was keeping weapons in his office because of his position. In this respect, they have also sent a letter to the Election Commission.

TMC said that Anant Barman, the president of the AITC Block in Bhetaguri, was beaten by BJP employees and is now receiving medical attention at a hospital. They alleged that BJP officials Hiren Mahanto, Ajeet Mahanto, and Ratan Burman assaulted AITC booth agents and threw crude explosives, inciting violence.

TMC has filed 21 complaints against the BJP with the EC so far.

Until 11 a.m., Cooch Behar registered 33.63 percent of voters, Alipurduar 35.20 percent, and Jalpaiguri 31.94 percent, in spite of allegations of violence.

The maximum number of central armed forces companies—112—have been deployed by the Election Commission of India (ECI) in the Cooch Behar (SC) constituency out of the three. In the Sitalkuchi neighborhood of the Cooch Behar district, which borders Bangladesh, four persons reportedly killed as a result of gunfire by the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) during the 2021 Assembly elections. 75 businesses in Jalpaiguri (SC) and 63 in Alipurduar (ST) have received approval from the EC. In addition to the central troops, IE stated that the election panel has also sent out 4,500 state police officers to Cooch Behar, 2,454 officers to Alipurduar, and 3,077 officers to Jalpaiguri.