Kolkata:

West Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose on Sunday said he was worried after getting reports about post-poll violence in Sandeshkhali, and asked Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to intervene immediately and restore peace there.

Speaking to PTI, Mr Bose said that he has written to Ms Banerjee asking her to inform him about the action taken against those involved in the incidents of violence in Sandeshkhali in North 24 Parganas district.

“I am a bit worried about the situation in Sandeshkhali. From the inputs I have received, I have come to know about incidents of attacks on the women of Sandeshkhali within hours after the polling was over yesterday. I have written to the Chief Minister about the steps taken in this regard,” Mr Bose said.

“If such attacks continue and the inhabitants are tortured, I will open the doors of the Raj Bhavan for them to come and stay here. They will be provided safe shelter here,” he added.

In less than 24 hours after the election was over, trouble-torn Sandehkhali on Sunday witnessed another round of skirmishes between women and the police when the personnel went there and detained one person in connection with attacks on policemen the previous night.

Women in Agarhati village in Sandeshkhali got involved in a fight with the Rapid Action Force (RAF) personnel, fell tree trunks, and blocked roads when the police went there in search of a few persons who had allegedly attacked them, a senior police officer said. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Kolkata:

Polling is underway for the nine Lok Sabha constituencies in West Bengal in the seventh phase on Saturday, marked by reports of violence and tension across various areas. Clashes were reported in the Satuliya area in Bhangar, within the Jadavpur constituency near Kolkata, between the Indian Secular Front (ISF) and CPI(M) supporters. The confrontation led to several injuries among ISF members, exacerbated by the presence of country-made bombs.

In Kultali, South 24 Parganas district, an angry mob forced its way into polling stations, seizing an Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) and throwing it into a nearby pond. This incident occurred after some polling agents were allegedly barred from entering the booths, prompting local residents to retaliate by seizing the EVM equipped with Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) and discarding it.

West Bengal: EVM machine was seen floating in water during voting in South 24 Parganas. pic.twitter.com/HInj1D7gLe

— IANS (@ians_india) June 1, 2024

“Today morning at 6.40 am Reserve EVMs & papers of Sector Officer near Benimadhavpur FP school, at 129-Kultali AC of 19-Jaynagar (SC) PC has been looted by local mob and 1 CU, 1 BU , 2VVPAT machines have been thrown inside a pond…FIR has been lodged by Sector Officer and necessary action has been initiated. Poll process in all six booths under the Sector is running uninterrupted. Fresh EVM and papers have been provided to the Sector Officer,” the Chief Electoral Officer of West Bengal said in a statement.

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Today morning at 6.40 am Reserve EVMs & papers of Sector Officer near Benimadhavpur FP school, at 129-Kultali AC of 19-Jaynagar (SC) PC has been looted by local mob and 1 CU, 1 BU , 2VVPAT machines have been thrown inside a pond.

— CEO West Bengal (@CEOWestBengal) June 1, 2024

Tensions flared in Sandeshkhali under Basirhat Lok Sabha late Friday night and persisted into the early hours of polling. Local women, armed with bamboo sticks, protested against alleged threats from Trinamool Congress (TMC) activists and state police. They accused associates of the now-suspended Trinamool leader Sheikh Shahjahan, who is currently imprisoned, of intimidating their families. State police, however, claimed the unrest began after local BJP supporters assaulted civic volunteers.

Tensions also escalated in Canning in South 24 Parganas district, as clashes erupted between supporters of TMC and BJP within the precincts of Itkhola Gram Panchayat. There have been reports of stone pelting in the area in which a media personnel sustained injuries.

The Leader of Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, and BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya shared videos of the protests, accusing Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of using party goons and state police to intimidate voters.

In Bhangar, clashes between TMC and All India Secular Front (AISF) activists erupted early on Saturday, injuring a woman AISF activist. Additionally, the vehicle of AISF candidate Nur Alam Khan was vandalised, allegedly by Trinamool supporters.

Polling for the nine Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal, including Dum Dum, Barasat, Basirhat, Jaynagar, Mathurapur, Diamond Harbour, Jadavpur, Kolkata Dakshin, and Kolkata Uttar, began at 7 am under stringent security measures. Voting will continue until 6 pm.

Prominent candidates in this phase include Trinamool Congress general secretary Abhishek Banerjee from Diamond Harbour, BJP’s Rekha Patra from Basirhat, and CPI(M)’s Sujan Chakraborty from Dum Dum. The polling is being conducted under heavy security, with 1,020 companies of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) in the state, 978 of which are on polling duty. A total of 1,960 quick response teams (QRTs) are deployed statewide to address any tensions.
 

Updated – May 26, 2024 06:38 am IST

Published – May 26, 2024 06:36 am IST

A child holds a placard depicting PM Modi and BJP election symbol during a public meeting addressed by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for Lok Sabha polls, in Varanasi.
| Photo Credit:
PTI

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address election meetings in Mirzapur, Ghosi and Bansgaon in Uttar Pradesh today (May 26, 2024). Union Home Minister Amit Shah is set to address three rallies – two in Bihar and one in Punjab. BJP chief J. P. Nadda is scheduled to address three rallies in Jehanabad, Bhojpur and Nalanda in Bihar. Meanwhile, the Congress has turned its attention to Himachal Pradesh, with Rahul Gandhi set to address two rallies today. Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge addressed a rally in Rohru, Himachal Pradesh, yesterday.

Also Read: China encroached on our land but PM Modi is silent: Mallikarjun Kharge

Tthe sixth phase of the General Elections 2024 on Saturday saw 59% voter turnout in 58 constituencies across six States and two Union Territories. Jangal Mahal region in West Bengal saw 78.09% polling. Jharkhand recorded a turnout of 62.74%, Uttar Pradesh 54.03%, Bihar 53.30%, Jammu and Kashmir 52.28%, Haryana 58.37%, Odisha 60.07% and Delhi 54.48%, according to the figures released by the Election Commission as of 7.45 p.m. yesterday.

Also Read: Highlights from the sixth phase of polling

The EC also came out yesterday with constituency-wise data on the number of votes cast in the first five phases of the elections. The EC said it has decided to further expand the format of the turnout data to include the absolute number of voters in every constituency.

Also Read: EC releases data on number of votes cast in first 5 phases of Lok Sabha polls

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Kolkata:

The gloves are off and battle lines drawn for yet another high-voltage political face-off between Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress and its prime challenger, the BJP, in West Bengal where 42 Lok Sabha seats, the third highest in India after Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, are up for grabs.

Elections to the 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal will be held in seven phases between April 19 and June 1.

While the opposition INDIA bloc fell through in Bengal with Ms Banerjee choosing to walk the ‘Ekla Cholo Re’ path, the state Pradesh Congress is still keen to forge ties with the Left parties whose hands it already held formally during the 2021 state polls. An official alliance between the two sides for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections is yet to be announced, though.

The BJP, on its part, is likely to rely on its consistent trump card, the popularity and persona of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while reaching out to the state’s electorate.

Licking its wounds from the drubbing in the state polls where the TMC restricted the party to just 77 seats in the Assembly floor that hosts furniture for 294 members, the BJP has had a fresh lease of life over issues of widespread corruption under Ms Banerjee’s rule and, more lately, allegations of land grab and sexual abuse of women against TMC leaders in the non-descript hamlet of Sandeshkhali in the Sunderbans delta.

For all practical purposes hence, the poll turf of Bengal looks set to witness yet another bare-knuckle PM Modi versus Mamata political fight where the saffron brigade would try and do its best to upset the Trinamool apple cart by improving upon its previous tally of 18 seats, considered, much to the chagrin of the state’s ruling dispensation, the party’s best performance yet.

The issues around which the largely three-cornered contest in the state is likely to be centred are as follows:

1. Corruption: Perhaps the most potent of ammunition in BJP’s weaponry, the issue of alleged widespread corruption in Trinamool ranks seems to have pushed the party on the political back foot. Although Ms Banerjee calls the phenomena nothing more than an “aberration in the party”, top TMC leaders continue to languish in jail for alleged recruitment scams in schools and civic bodies, irregularities in food grain distribution and even cross-border cattle smuggling.

2. Sandeshkhali and women voters: What broke out as an organised violence on a raiding ED team at TMC strongman Shajahan Sheikh’s Sandeshkhali residence in early January, quickly metamorphosed into villagers’ protests against forceful land grab and sustained sexual atrocities on women by the leader and his cohorts. While the protests snowballed over time, the TMC found itself smeared with a stigma it dreaded most on the eve of the polls: the prospect of losing the trust of women voters. Ms Banerjee is believed to have consistently enjoyed the loyalty of the state’s women voters and PM Modi, during his recent trips to the state, have unambiguously stated that the Sandeshkhali issue would remain the fulcrum of the BJP’s poll campaigns.

3. The Bohiragoto (outsider) tag: Considered to be the TMC’s tried and tested agenda against the BJP from the state polls three years ago, the ‘bohiragoto’ jab against the BJP leaders of the country’s Hindi heartland now finds a corollary: that of ‘Bengal-haters’. ‘Jonogoner gorjon, Bangla birodhider bisarjan’ (the roar of the people is to throw the Bengal-haters out), was the central slogan for polls coined at the TMC mega rally at Brigade Parade Ground on March 10.

4. Central funds: The most consistent of all issues riding which the TMC hopes to garner votes from Bengal’s countryside is the withholding of central funds in projects like the MNREGS and PM Avaas Yojna. Added to the tax dues from the Centre, TMC claims that the total receivables exceed Rs one lakh crore, impeding development in the state and causing financial distress to the rural poor. While Ms Banerjee has begun disbursing MNREGS money from state coffers to the beneficiaries-in-wait, her nephew Abhishek has challenged the BJP for an open debate on the issue and demanded the publication of a white paper on the subject.

5. CAA: In her bid to obfuscate the likely adverse impact of Sandeshkhali developments and foster damage control with respect to corruption, Ms Banerjee lost no time to oppose the Citizenship Amendment Act which the Centre operationalised by notification of rules earlier this week. Calling the Act a “precursor to NRC” and a “jumla to mislead immigrants”, the Trinamool supremo announced her intent to make CAA one of her primary election issues. Contrarily, the BJP hopes to reap political benefits out of the Act on the eve of the polls, especially in the Matua-community-dominated pockets of Bengal.

6. Setting theory: A favourite with the state’s Left and Congress leaders alike, the theory of a “tacit understanding between Modi and Didi” buried deep under the political brouhaha of the two opponents is what the third major political force of the state is likely to go to town with during this election season. The alleged “delay” in scam probes by the central agencies that have “kept the TMC top brass outside the police net” is an issue which the Left and Congress are likely to bring back to the campaign centre stage.

Besides the above, both TMC and the BJP are looking to cry hoarse over other issues that have dominated Bengal’s political ecospace for a while now. While the Trinamool is likely to scream about the “use of central agencies by the BJP to intimidate its opposition” and “religion-based divisive politics of the BJP”, the saffron party would surely be highlighting issues of law and order in the state and “strangulation of democracy by politicizing the police and administration” under the Mamata Banerjee regime. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)