West Bengal is gearing up for a high-pitched electoral battle in coming days, which will witness elections in India in four states and an UT. As the list of the candidates of the BJP candidates contesting the Bengal polls is getting longer with more names being added, violent protests from the local BJP workers in the state are becoming more widespread. Displeased over the list, local BJP leaders & party workers are on a rampage after the announcement of the new list.

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From New Delhi office of BJP the next list of 157 candidates was announced. Subsequently, across various districts in West Bengal displeased local BJP-workers started their rampage in the BJP offices. North Bengal saw the first spate of violence. Jalpaiguri and Harishchandrapur in Maldah witnessed violence in BJP-offices.

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The Jalpaiguri office was set ablaze by the local leaders & BJP-party workers. The table, chairs were smashed and the posters of Modi & Dilip Ghosh were torn down to pieces. District Vice president (Jalpaiguri) Alok Chakraborty said, “The central leadership cannot have their whims and fancies.” Harishchandrapur saw a similar reaction with the party-workers carrying out mayhem at the party office. Slogans of “Dhikkar” were shouted against the North Maldah MP Khogen Murmu. The local leaders there accused that tickets were given in lieu of money. In this context, the TMC leader Mousam Nur stated, “Our (TMC’s) fight became easier in Maldah.” In Sahapur, Maldah, the electoral office was rampaged by around 200 BJP-party workers.

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South Bengal also saw similar reactions from the displeased party workers of BJP. The party office in Durgapur was locked down. Selection of independent candidates began in order to teach the high command of BJP a lesson. Places like Ranaghat and Kalyani also saw outburst of displeasure of the local BJP-workers. In Murshidabad, demand was raised to change the candidate.

The local workers and the BJP faces are irked that the ones working with BJP for long-time were ignored and others were chosen as candidates. This shows the disconnect of BJP with the ground reality & sentiments in West Bengal.