West Bengal Municipal Polls: Violence reported in some areas, 49.91% polling recorded till 1 pm

(Credits: ANI)

New Delhi: A clash broke between TMC and BJP workers on Sunday (February 27, 2022) during the polling for West Bengal civic polls in North 24 Parganas.

"2 EVMs vandalized at ward 9, similar situation across the state. Police arresting BJP workers, not letting them vote. All booths have been captured,” said BJP leader, Arjun Singh. 

“Only Police and goons are voting here. Voters are scared to vote, especially the Bengali population, who are not being allowed to vote. Even TMC's core vote bank, Muslims are not able to vote. Police here is playing one of the 3 monkeys of Gandhiji,” said West Bengal BJP vice-president. 

Only Police and goons are voting here. Voters are scared to vote, especially the Bengali population, who are not being allowed to vote. Even TMC's core vote bank, Muslims are not able to vote. Police here is playing one of the 3 monkeys of Gandhiji: West Bengal BJP vice-president pic.twitter.com/5pFTvtPEqu

— ANI (@ANI) February 27, 2022

In the meantime, an election official said sporadic incidents of violence-marred elections in 108 civic bodies across West Bengal on Sunday morning. The polling began at 7 am and will continue till 5 pm, he said.

According to the official data shared at 1 pm, 49.91 per cent votes were cast across 2,171 wards amid tight security, he said.

"Apart from a few stray incidents, polling has so far been peaceful. No incidents of violence have been reported. We noted some disturbances from a few areas and took action," the senior official of the State Election Commission said.

Few outsiders were found in queues at some polling booths in Barrackpore and Dum Dum municipalities in North 24 Parganas district.

In Bhatpara municipality, the pocket borough of BJP MP Arjun Singh, the situation was tense as sporadic clashes erupted between TMC and BJP supporters.

A BJP candidate smashed an EVM, alleging rigging by TMC members, in one of the wards. The TMC denied the allegations of foul play.

In Malda district, wards 4, 8 and 12 of English Bazar Municipality witnessed some tensions with the police acting swiftly to manage the situation. BJP candidate of ward 8 Sanjay Sharma alleged that the booths in Ramkrishna Mission School were captured by the TMC, a charge the ruling party rubbished.

Congress leader Isha Khan Chowdhury alleged that TMC supporters were not allowing the party's ward 15 candidate to enter polling station 155.

In Jalpaiguri Municipality's ward 12, Congress candidate Narayan Chandra Sarkar alleged that he was thrown out of a booth by police, while TMC members were campaigning at the same place for their party's candidate.

Over 95 lakh voters are slated to exercise their franchise to elect ward representatives and mayors. Today’s voting is going to decide the fate of 8,160 candidates. The officials informed that a total of 44,000 police personnel have been deployed for the civic polls, with at least one armed police in every booth.

The districts where polling is underway are Darjeeling, Cooch Behar, Alipurduar, Jalpaiguri, Uttar Dinajpur, Dakshin Dinajpur, Malda, Murshidabad, Nadia, North 24-Parganas, South 24-Parganas, Howrah, Hooghly, Purba Medinipur, Paschim Medinipur, Jhargram, Purulia, Bankura, Purba Burdwan and Birbhum. 

Long queues were seen outside many booths as people turned up early for casting their votes. In all, 135 observers, including 10 special senior observers and 108 general observers, are keeping a close watch on the polling. The votes will be counted on March 2. 

(With agency inputs)