Seat: Asansol (Burdwan)
Booth capture
Jamuria: 12 booths
What happened: CPM agents allegedly chased out of the booths. One CPM agent allegedly kidnapped and is yet to be traced. Voters intimidated in absence of CPM agents.
Raniganj: 4 booths
What happened: CPM agents allegedly driven out of booths as soon as polling process started. In one booth, BJP agents were chased out too.
Hirapur: 2 booths
What happened: BJP agents allegedly forced to leave booths and prevented from entering when they tried to after 2 hours.
Allegations made by: Gauranga Chatterjee, Burdwan CPM leader and S.N. Lamba of BJP.
“Trinamul tried to loot votes in areas where they apprehended people would vote against them. We had informed the district administration that the ruling party could resort to electoral malpractice in these booths, but nothing was done,” Chatterjee said.
Lamba said: “The ruling party plundered votes and intimidated voters after chasing away our agents.”
Trinamul’s reaction: V. Shivadasan, Trinamul organising secretary in Asansol, denied the charges. “Voting was peaceful, fair and free. All allegations are fabricated,” he said.
Assault
Place: Pandaveswar
What happened: Monda Baidyakar, a 24-year-old physically challenged woman, allegedly beaten up by Trinamul workers after she cast her vote.
Place: Kaliganj
What happened: CPM agent Jagannath Yadav allegedly assaulted by suspected Trinamul activists on Tuesday night. He is in hospital.
Place: Bonogram
What happened: CPM supporters beaten up allegedly by Trinamul workers and prevented from going to booths. Police rescued the voters.
Allegations made by: Chatterjee, the district CPM leader.
“Many of our supporters were beaten up mercilessly by Trinamul as they apprehend that people’s mandate will go against them,” he said.
Trinamul’s reaction: Shivadasan said: “The entire voting process was peaceful in Asansol. We have no link with any such incident.”
Seat: Bishnupur (Bankura)
Booth capture
Sonamukhi: 14 booths
What happened: CPM agents allegedly forced to leave booths between 8.45am and 10am by suspected Trinamul workers. Voters allegedly intimidated so that they voted Trinamul.
Kotulpur: 11 booths
What happened: CPM agents chased out of booths before 9am by alleged Trinamul workers who had a free run for the rest of the day.
Bishnupur: 11 booths
What happened: Suspected Trinamul workers overpowered CPM booth agents, chased them away and resorted to false voting.
Khandaghosh: 2 booths
What happened: CPM agents allegedly ordered to leave booths around 11am by suspected Trinamul workers, who resorted to false voting. CPM agents tried to re-enter booths after an hour but their attempts were thwarted.
Allegations made by: Amiya Patra, CPM Bankura secretary.
“We had informed the district authorities and the Election Commission about the vulnerability of the booths. But nothing was done,” he said.
Trinamul’s reaction: Arup Khan, Trinamul district president, denied the charges. “Polls were free and fair. The party (CPM) has lost its base and is trying to save its face by levelling false charges of rigging,” he said.
Assault
Place: Indus
What happened: Noor Alam, a CPM polling agent (booth No. 122), beaten up allegedly by Trinamul workers. He is in hospital.
Place: Bishnupur
What happened: CPM worker Naru Lohar allegedly thrashed by Trinamul-backed goons.
Place: Khandagosh
What happened: 10 CPM and Trinamul supporters injured in a clash over seating arrangement of agents inside a booth. All in hospital.
Place: Khandaghosh
What happened: CPM leader Nepal Majhi attacked by suspected Trinamul workers when he was going to vote. Admitted to Burdwan Medical College Hospital.
Allegation made by: Patra, CPM district secretary.
“Trinamul tried to rig polls everywhere. Wherever they faced protests, they beat up CPM workers. The police did nothing,” he said.
Trinamul’s reaction: “Charges levelled against us are fabricated. CPM resorted to violence,” Trinamul’s Khan said.
Seat: Bankura
Booth Capture
Ranibandh: 1 booth
What happened: CPM agent forced to leave booth and voters intimidated.
Saltora: 3 booths
What happened: CPM agents chased away. Suspected Trinamul workers threatened people to cast votes in party’s favour.
Taldangra: 3 booths
What happened: Authorisation letters of CPM agents (required to enter booth) snatched by suspected Trinamul workers on Tuesday night. Trinamul workers allegedly manipulated voting process.
Allegations made by: Patra, CPM district secretary.
“The ruling party left no stone unturned to rig the polls. They chased away our agents and prevented them from re-entering booths. False votes were cast,” he said.
Trinamul’s reaction: “We do not require to rig polls as people have faith in Mamata Banerjee,” Khan said.
Seat: Jhargram
Booth capture
Gopiballavpur II: 3 booths
What happened: Trinamul men allegedly forced out Left poll agents from booths around noon and cast false votes for about an hour.
Garbeta: 65 booths
What happened: Trinamul activists allegedly barged into booths, threatened CPM agents and kept them away from poll premises for two-and-a-half hours.
Chandrakona: 30 booths
What happened: Large-scale false voting went on for nearly two hours. In some booths, false votes were cast in presence of Left agents, who initially protested but were threatened by suspected Trinamul activists.
Salboni: 20 booths
What happened: CPM agents had been warned since Tuesday against entering poll premises. Many ousted from booths by suspected Trinamul activists and false votes were cast.
Allegations made by: Pulin Behari Baskey, CPM’s Jhargram candidate. “The polls were heavily rigged by Trinamul in several booths,” he said.
Trinamul’s reaction: “CPM’s allegations are unfounded. They didn’t have adequate cadres to sit in booths in Jhargram,” Trinamul’s West Midnapore president Dinen Roy said.
Seat: Midnapore
Booth capture
Midnapore: 6 booths
What happened: Trinamul activists allegedly intimidated Left agents in booths. Within three hours of commencement of polling, Opposition agents driven out. Suspected Trinamul workers resorted to rigging
Narayangarh: 5 booths
What happened: Suspected Trinamul activists tried to capture as many booths as they could throughout the day, but Left cadres “put up a brave front”. Five CPM agents in Surjya Kanta Mishra’s Assembly constituency allegedly forced out of poll premises.
Dantan: 6 booths
What happened: Booths surrounded by suspected Trinamul men, many of whom were armed with sticks. Central forces did little to disperse Trinamul activists.
Kharagpur: 3 booths
What happened: Around 1pm, Trinamul activists allegedly took control of booths, chasing out Opposition agents. Polling continued in Opposition’s absence and hundreds of false votes were cast in each booth.
Keshiary: 3 booths
What happened: Police were hardly visible around booths. Trinamul allegedly rigged polls.
Allegation made by: Midnapore CPI candidate Prabodh Panda. “I visited many of these places after getting reports of rigging. But by the time I reached, the ruling party had captured many of the booths,” he said.
Trinamul reaction: “Polls were peaceful in Midnapore. There was no untoward incident. The Left’s organisation is crumbling in this constituency. That’s why it’s claiming that elections were rigged, which is untrue,” West Midnapore district president Dinen Roy said.
