Protesters in the Paschim Medinipur district of West Bengal halted the progress of Hiran Chatterjee, the BJP candidate for the Ghatal Lok Sabha seat. He had been actively visiting various polling stations since the morning. The demonstrators set fire in the center of the street to block the passage of the BJP candidates’ convoy.
Chatterjee told ANI, “Our party workers were bombed throughout the night by the police officers. They are not letting polling agents sit (at the polling station). The Police work with TMC. Police, central force & TMC are trying to defeat me. But we have full faith in the voters.”
DS Grewal, DIG, CRPF, commented on the situation, stating, “We are currently on-site and assessing the circumstances.”
Previously, the West Bengal police intercepted the convoy of Agnimitra Paul, the BJP Lok Sabha candidate from Medinipur, at Kismat Angua in Banpura village.
“Scattered reports of intimidation and removal of BJP’s Polling agents have reached us from early morning but be rest assured BJP has ensured tight security in almost 90% of the important booths this time. Don’t wait out and vote in large numbers,” he said.
TMC’s sitting MP Deepak Adhikari and CPI’s Tapan Ganguly are opposing BJP’s candidate Hiran Chatterjee in the Ghatal constituency. In the 2019 elections, TMC’s Adhikari Deepak won the seat with 7,17,959 votes.
Meanwhile, according to Election Commission data, West Bengal witnessed a substantial voter turnout of 36.88% by 11 am on Saturday during the sixth phase of Lok Sabha elections.
Across the nation, the estimated voter turnout at 11 am stood at 25.76%.
