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INDIA ELECTIONS FIFTH PHASE

Stray violence in West Bengal


Published : 06 May 2019 08:53 PM | Updated : 06 Sep 2020 04:40 PM

Stray violence was reported during polling in the fifth phase of parliamentary election in the seven seats in West Bengal on Monday. Violence was reported from Barrackpore, Bangaon, Howrah and Hooghly constituencies. "There have been some stray incidents of violence from a few places. We have taken immediate steps," a senior election official here said.

A scuffle between Barrackpore seat's BJP candidate Arjun Singh and federal police forces was reported when he tried to enter a booth following allegations that voters were not being allowed to exercise their franchise there, the official said. Singh, who was allegedly injured during the scuffle, was later seen chasing "fake voters" in Naihati area. "Our agents were not allowed inside booths. People were not allowed to vote properly and I went there to have a look. I have the right to enter booths but police stopped me and hit me," Singh said.

Alleging that the police are not doing anything to stop rigging in some booths of Barrackpore seat, Singh demanded that re-polling ordered. The maximum number of "sensitive" booths in Monday's elections are in Barrackpore constituency where Trinamool Congres’s sitting lawmaker Dinesh Trivedi is pitted against Singh who switched over to the BJP recently after he was denied nomination by party supremo Mamata Banerjee.

At a booth in Belmuri in Hooghly constituency, BJP candidate Locket Chatterjee was seen threatening a polling officer. She is contesting the elections against Trinamool’s two-term MP Ratna De Nag. A presiding officer at a booth in Tarakswar was removed after one person, allegedly a Trinamool leader, was seen casting votes on behalf of others there.

Stray incidents of violence were also reported from Bongaon and Howrah parliamentary seats. Ruling Trinamool Congress, the BJP, the Congress and Left Front constituent CPI(M) are the main contenders in the seven seats where the fate of 83 candidates are in fray. To ensure free and fair polling the seven seats, the Election Commission has deployed nearly 6,000 of federal police forces.

Stray violence was also reported from parts of West Bengal in the previous three four phases of polling. Polling in the fifth phase of India’s parliamentary elections was underway across seven states on Monday with Congress president Rahul Gandhi, his mother and United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh among the political heavyweights in fray.

The fifth phase covering 51 constituencies is the smallest in the seven-phase polling but assumes considerable significance for Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party’s re-election bid as it was in these states that the party had won most of the seats in the last national poll five years ago. The states where polling was held Monday were Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar, West Bengal, Jharkhand and Jammu and Kashmir.

Uttar Pradesh, which elects 80 Lok Sabha members to the Parliament, saw polling in 14 constituencies today, including in Amethi where Rahul is pitted against federal minister Smriti Irani and Rae Bareli where Sonia is in contest against BJP nominee Dinesh Singh who quit the Congress and switched allegiance to the saffron party last year.

In Lucknow, the capital city of UP, Rajnath takes on debutant Poonam Sinha, wife of Bollywood actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha who joined the Congress after leaving the BJP recently. Uttar Pradesh has already voted for 39 seats in the previous four phases and polling in the remaining constituencies will be held in the last two phases on May 12 and 19. The results of the national polls will be declared on May 23, the correspondent reports.