Malda, May 5: Congress workers ransacked the office of the block development officer at Harishchandrapur II this afternoon after he refused to take the name of a teacher off the election duty roster.

The BDO, N.T. Lepcha, said a Congress gram panchayat candidate, her husband and a few others, had come to meet him with a school teacher, Manirul Islam in tow.

“When they asked me to take the teacher off election duty, I told them that I was not empowered to do so. Instead, I asked them to approach the district magistrate,” Lepcha said.

Soon an argument started and the candidate, Sulekha Laili and her husband Afanuddin began shouting at the BDO saying that since Manirul was her election agent, he could not be engaged for election duty.

“They threw away all papers from the desk and overturned the table. The staff who came to my rescue were beaten up,” the BDO alleged. The agitators left the office before police arrived.

Malda police superintendent Satyajit Bandyopadhyaya said the BDO had filed a complaint and none of the attackers could be found in the area.

Congress leader Mostaq Hossain said he had heard about the incident, but could not get in touch with Sulekha or her husband.