Complaints of violence, intimidation flood Bengal's 1st phase of polling
The first phase of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in West Bengal commenced on Friday amidst reports of unrest and voter intimidation involving the incumbent Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). In Chandmari, at least one person was injured in a scuffle between workers of the two parties near Cooch Behar town. There were also reports of stone-throwing.
TMC leader injured in alleged bomb attack
Anant Barman, a local leader of the TMC, was rushed to the hospital following an alleged crude bomb attack in Bhetaguri. Both the BJP and TMC have accused each other of intimidating voters, obstructing their path to polling booths, and attacking booth agents. Reports also emerged of temporary election offices being set ablaze in areas like Toofanganj in Cooch Behar and Dabgram-Fulbari in Jalpaiguri.
Governor's office receives complaints of election violence
A representative from the West Bengal governor's office revealed that the majority of calls related to election violence and voter intimidation came from Cooch Behar. The Election Commission of India (ECI) had deployed 112 central armed forces companies to Cooch Behar. During the 2021 Assembly elections, four people were killed in an alleged firing by the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) in the Sitalkuchi area of Cooch Behar.
Polling began at 7:00am in West Bengal's 3 constituencies
Alipurduar, Jalpaiguri also went to the polls
Apart from Cooch Behar, two other constituencies, Alipurduar and Jalpaiguri, also went to the polls on Friday. The ECI sanctioned 63 central armed forces companies in Alipurduar (ST) and 75 in Jalpaiguri (SC). In addition to the central forces, the poll panel deployed 4,500 state police personnel in Cooch Behar, 2,454 personnel in Alipurduar, and 3,077 personnel in Jalpaiguri.
