Bengal went to war with itself on Sunday, and that too for civic elections in which the weapons used weren't tanks or missiles, but, as the Opposition alleged, age-old voter intimidation tactics that included threats, assualts, bomb attacks and false voting to spread a wave of terror and ensure the exercise remained a one-sided affair.
Late in the evening, the BJP called a 12-hour bandh from 6am on Monday. In response, the state government has announced that any attempts at disrupting normal life on a working day would be dealt with severely as per the law.
Till 5 pm, according to the official figures released by the state election commission, over 75 % votes were polled in the 2,276 wards spread over 108 civic bodies in the state. The highest was recorded in East Midnapore with 75.76 per cent polling and the lowest in Darjeeling at 47.82 per cent.
What the statistics do not reveal is the kind of terror that was spread through the day with the entire Opposition describing the election in one word, "farce". Social media was flooded with videos of candidates in tears, alleging strongarm tactics resorted to by the ruling Trinamul Congress supporters.
“What happened in the name of elections was a farce. Everyone understands that there was no voting,” said CPM leader Sujan Chakraborty. “The state election commission and its personnel, the police and Trinamul-backed goons launched a combined attack against the rights of the people.”
Bengal’s leader of Opposition in the state Assembly Suvendu Adhikari had near identical words.“Democracy has been buried in Bengal by Mamata Banerjee. This election is a farce,” tweeted Adhikari, while sharing the video of a BJP nominee who was allegedly molested.
“Systematic loot of votes across West Bengal. West Bengal Police has done a great job of (a) organising the TNC goons, (b)instructing them when and how to capture booths (c) scaring away the voters. (d) stifling Opposition’s voice (e) using force to disperse any resistance made by the opposition,” Adhikari tweeted, explaining how Bengal voted on the same day when 61 Assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh went to vote.
Battle-hardened soldiers of Bengal’s political army relied on time-tested and home-made weapons like crude bombs, rods, sticks and their own punches and kicks to intimidate voters, alleged Opposition nominees.
Social media was swarmed with videos of women candidates, irrespective of party affiliations shedding tears as lumpen forces took charge of exercising the democratic right to vote on behalf of the citizenry.
Rampant false voting
“Out of all the residents in the 44 flats in our complex, only two went to vote,” said Kailash Pandey, a resident of South Dum Dum Municipality’s ward 20. Till morning, 50 per cent votes were already polled. Many who turned up at the booths at 7.30 am, were told to go home as their votes were cast. A teacher, also nephew of a local Trinamul leader, who came all the way from South Dinajpur to cast his vote, was among those who had to return from the booth.
“… many booths in many municipalities where elections are going on have been captured by anti-socials of ruling party. It seems from reports that nowhere elections are being conducted in a free and fair way,” wrote an anguished Congress Rajya Sabha MP Pradip Bhattacharya to the state election commission chief. “
The candidates of all the parties except the ruling party have been physically assaulted and all of them are hiding for fear of their lives,” he added.
Bhattacharya demanded the polls be deemed cancelled and held afresh. A similar demand was made by former BJP state president Rahul Sinha.
A list of voter turnout in the districts till 5 pm. The Telegraph picture.
'Is there a home minister?'
CPM’s South 24-Parganas district secretary Shamik Lahiri sent a letter to the state poll panel with a list of booths that were captured in Joynagar-Majilpur, Maheshtala and Diamond Harbour (whose local MP is Trinamul’s all-India general secretary Abhishek Banerjee).
“What is going on? Is there a Home (Police) minister? Is there an administration? When the Left Front was in power municipalities and panchayats in Joynagar and elsewhere were run by the opposition parties. They have not only intensified attacks on areas where they are not going to win, but have also targeted wards where they could have won but have doubts. Why this fear of losing?” asked Sujan Chakraborty.
At Rajpur-Sonarpur municipality’s ward 35, another woman candidate, who contested as an Independent, alleged she was assaulted, and her son’s mobile phone snatched by ruling party goons.
The only complaint of assault on a ruling party nominee came from ward 11 of Santipur municipality, where Snigdha Mukherjee, the Trinamul candidate alleged she was beaten by the CPM nominee Moumita Mahato Das.
Reporter, cameraman beaten up
A reporter and a cameraperson of a private news channel were assaulted along with the North Dum Dum municipality’s ward 31 candidate of CPM Shibshankar Ghosh. In the 2021 Assembly polls, CPM was leading from ward 31, which has thrown attention on the ward in this election. In several other places too media persons came under attack.
Several voters were also allegedly stopped from casting their votes and threatened.
Accounts coming in from different parts of the state were near identical with only the names of places and candidates getting changed.
Candidate thrown out of booth
The former chairman of the Joynagar-Majilpr municipality—the only civic body that was held by the Congress--- was beaten and thrown out of the polling booth along with his polling agent. Sarkhel is the Congress nominee from ward 11.
“In presence of the police officers, the Trinamul goons first threatened me and my agent and then assaulted us,” said Sarkhel.
Debashish Chowdhury, a Congress nominee from Maheshtala municipality’s ward 35 has been missing since Sunday morning.
“Most of Joynagar municipality area is now under the control of outsiders. Similarly, in Rajpur-Sonarpur municipality wards 3, 14, 15, 16, 17, 22, 26, 28, 31 and 35 have been occupied by outsiders,” said Sujan Chakraborty, CPM central committee member.
EVMs damaged en masse
In ward 37 of Rajpur-Sonarpur municipality, at the polling station in Rajpur Vidyanidhi school, outsiders went on a rampage before polling had begun and damaged electronic voting machines. The Congress nominee, Soumendu Ghosh, was assaulted.
Opposition workers and the police got involved in a fisticuff after which a lathicharge was ordered. The state election commission has sought a report in this case.
In North 24-Parganas New Barrackpore, bikers roamed the streets of ward 8, in an attempt to keep the voters indoor. The CPM candidate Sandhya Majumdar and her polling agent were assaulted. In Hooghly’s Arambagh, a CPM nominee Sushil Bauri had to leave his home and seek shelter at another place after being chased by Trinamul-backed goons.
North Bengal too
The violence was not restricted to South Bengal. In Jalpaiguri, the Congress nominee from ward 12 was allegedly removed from the booth by a senior police officer. The Congress nominee along with other supporters had objected to the presence of outsiders inside the booth.
In his home turf, Opposition leader in the Lok Sabha and state Congress president Adhir Chowdhury got involved in an altercation with Trinamul workers.
