Kolkata: Polling is underway for the nine Lok Sabha constituencies in West Bengal in the seventh phase on Saturday amid reports of poll-related violence and tension surfacing from several pockets, including Sandeshkhali, Bhangar.
The violence started late Friday night and continued till the beginning of the polling process at 7 a.m.
Sandeshkhali under Basirhat Lok Sabha and Bhangar under Jadavpur Lok Sabha were the epicentres of the tension.
At Sandeshkhali, tension started mounting late Friday night as a group of local women came out on the streets carrying bamboo sticks protesting against the alleged threats to their family members by local Trinamool Congress activists accompanied by the state police. The women also alleged that the local goons who were behind such threats were close associates of now-suspended Trinamool Congress leader Sheikh Shahjahan, who is currently behind bars.
However, the state police have denied the allegations and said that the tension flared up after some local BJP supporters had beaten up a couple of civic volunteers at Sandeshkhali.
The Leader of Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari and BJP Information Technology cell chief Amit Malviya shared the videos of the protesting women at Sandeshkhali. Launching scathing attacks against West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee they accused her of unleashing the party goons and state police in intimidating voters.
Similarly, tension broke out in front of a polling booth at Bhangar since the beginning of the polling process at 7 a.m. on Saturday following clashes between Trinamool Congress and All India Secular Front (AISF) activists. A woman AISF activist received head injuries following the clashes.
Earlier, the vehicle of the AISF candidate Nur Alam Khan was vandalized allegedly by a group of Trinamool Congress activists.
The nine Lok Sabha constituencies where polls are being conducted on Saturday are Kolkata-Dakshin and Kolkata-Uttar in Kolkata, Jadavpur, Jaynagar, Mathurapur and Diamond Harbour in South 24 Parganas and Basirhat, Barasat, and Dum Dum in North 24 Parganas.
The prominent candidates whose fate will be sealed on Saturday include Trinamool Congress’ general secretary Abhishek Banerjee from Diamond Harbour, the face of the Sandeshkhali movement and the BJP candidate from Basirhat Rekha Patra and the CPI(M) central committee member Dr Sujan Chakraborty from Dum Dum.
Polls are underway under massive security arrangements with 1,020 companies of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) already in the state, out of which 978 companies are being deployed on polling duty and the rest are being kept on reserve. A total of 1,960 quick response teams (QRTs) have already been deployed throughout the state to quickly address reports of tension.
–IANS