Police had by Thursday evening arrested 18 people including the Indian Secular Front’s Mothabari candidate, Moulana Shahjahan Ali, for Wednesday’s nine-hour gherao and violence against judicial officials on SIR duty.

Chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar pulled up the Malda superintendent of police for his “lackadaisical” approach in dispersing the mob — who numbered in thousands — and asked him to arrest all those involved by Thursday night.

As Kumar and the Supreme Court slammed senior Bengal police and administrative officers’ failure to provide security to the seven judicial officers — three of them women — Mamata Banerjee lobbed the ball back into the Election Commission’s court.

“Powers have been taken off my hands. The chief secretary failed to control the situation. I was not even informed,” the chief minister said at Sagardighi, Murshidabad.

Mamata said: “I learnt about the situation from a journalist at 12 midnight. Isn’t it humiliating for me?”

The judicial officers, engaged in adjudicating doubtful voters, were held hostage from afternoon till shortly after midnight at the BDO’s office in Mothabari, Malda. After the central forces rescued them, they allegedly had their vehicles pelted with stones while leaving the area.

Ali’s arrest – on charges of instigating unrest -- triggered a political slugfest, with the ISF candidate and ally CPM alleging he had been targeted for his political affiliation.

All those arrested have been remanded in 10 days’ police custody.

“The incident has impacted the SIR adjudication work. There is no indication whether the process will resume in Mothabari,” a source in the administration said.

Mothabari was more or less calm on Thursday barring a few anti-SIR protests.

Growing anger

The violence stemmed from the growing anger among thousands of residents whose names are missing from the rolls despite the publication of six supplementary lists.

Sources said that 79,682 Mothabari residents had been marked “under adjudication” on the February 28 list.

Trinamool candidate Mohammad Nazrul Islam said around 40 per cent of these people had either been dropped from the rolls or remained uncertain whether they would be able to vote.

The discontent culminated in a massive protest on the Amrity-Kaliachak state highway from around 9.30am on Wednesday.

The protesters, many holding the Tricolour, chanted slogans against the Election Commission and the BJP.

Tensions escalated around 1pm when the demonstrators spotted Islam, who has made it to one of the supplementary lists. Some in the crowd accused him of opportunism, aggravating the situation.

Islam soon left but the mob blocked the road and began inching towards the BDO’s office, barely 100 metres from the blockade spot, around 2pm. By all accounts, the protesters had cordoned the office off by 3.30pm.

When the judicial officers tried to leave around 5.30pm, they found themselves hemmed in by a massive gathering.

Despite the presence of police and the central paramilitary forces, no immediate action was taken to disperse the mob, sources said. Officials failed to make timely announcements addressing the mob’s grievances.

Appeals by authorities around 8pm failed to calm the crowd. The matter was communicated to Calcutta High Court and the Election Commission.

Large police and central forces contingents arrived around 10pm. It was about 11.30pm when SP Anupam Singh and district magistrate Rajanvir Singh Kapur turned up at the spot.

The delayed response drew criticism from the Supreme Court on Thursday.

When the crowd refused to leave, the security forces carried out a baton charge. After prolonged efforts, the hostages were escorted out around 12.18am and taken to Malda town.

Eyewitnesses said some people from the mob tried to block their convoy near Amritala by putting up bamboo barricades at short distances and throwing stones. The vehicle of a Bengali news channel, too, was vandalised.

In a widely circulated audio clip, not verified by The Telegraph, a woman judicial officer appears to be speaking over the phone in a panic-stricken voice, seeking the help of high court officials and the administration.

She purportedly says her vehicle is under attack and is having to smash down bamboo barricades as it speeds away, and that a pilot motorcycle rider has suffered injuries.

Raids, arrests

The police conducted raids across Mothabari from early Thursday morning.

“I was not at the protest spot at all. The police arrested me at 3.30am while I was returning from a jalsa (religious programme),” Ali, the ISF candidate, said.

The CPM’s Malda district secretary, Koushik Mishra, alleged that Ali had been “made a scapegoat by the police and the Mamata Banerjee administration”.

“It was a democratic protest by the common people who had suffered a catastrophe because of the Election Commission’s whims and a BJP conspiracy. If necessary, Ali will contest the election from confinement,” he said.

Security forces maintained a strong presence around the BDO’s office, which remained shut, with no official work conducted. Shops and businesses were closed.

There was a brief incident in the Achintala area, where demonstrators burned tyres and chanted anti-SIR slogans. The police arrived and dispersed them.

CEC Kumar held a videoconference with senior government officials and the Bengal CEO soon after the Supreme Court pulled up top government officials over the Mothabari incident.

Sources said Kumar told DGP Siddh Nath Gupta that the poll panel expected a more active role from a senior IPS officer like him.

At her Sagardighi rally, Mamata blamed the Election Commission for the Mothabari violence and demanded Union home minister Amit Shah’s resignation.

“This is the BJP’s game plan. They don’t want elections. They want President’s rule,” she said.

“Do you want that? Or do you want a peaceful election through which Trinamool (retains) power? If you trust me, don’t get ensnared by provocation.”

The BJP said the violence was the result of Mamata’s “politics of appeasement”.

The CPM and the Congress blamed both the state government and the Centre for the large-scale disenfranchisement and the outburst of people’s anger.

“However, the way people, including the ISF candidate, are being arrested will not stop voters from rising in protest. The chief minister has to take responsibility for these selective arrests,” CPM state secretary Md Salim said.

The Congress candidate from Baharampur, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, hit out at Mamata.

“During the last Lok Sabha elections, Mamata Banerjee had triggered riots to ensure my defeat. She is trying to repeat it this time, and Mothabari is a case in point,” he said.