West Bengal witnessed post-election violence as the vote counting neared its end. Vote counting for the West Bengal election began in the morning of May 02.
As the vote counting neared its conclusion, violence broke out in parts of West Bengal even as trends and results poured in from the assembly election. Houses and vehicles of some BJP candidates were allegedly attacked and a party office at Arambagh, Hooghly was set ablaze. The vehicle of Suvendu Adhikari, who defeated the TMC Supremo in Nandigram, was also attacked.
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TMC leaders denied connection with any violence and urged people to maintain peace and follow Covid-19 protocols. At Natabari, the car of BJP candidate Mihir Goswami was also damaged. He won the election against senior TMC leader Rabindranath Ghosh from the same constituency.
Party office of BJP at Arambagh was set ablaze after the party’s candidate Madhusudan Bag defeated TMC’s Sujata Mondal by around 7,100 votes. At Siuri, a BJP office was ransacked and the local party leader’s tractor was set ablaze. In Kolkata’s Beleghata constituency, the BJP candidate’s garage was set on fire.
Dilip Ghosh, the chief of the state unit of the opposition-BJP claimed that nine of its workers lost their lives within 24 hours of the post-election violence breaking out in West Bengal.
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The governor of West Bengal, Jagdeep Dhankar expressed his concern over the violence. In response to allegations from BJP, that TMC caused the violence, TMC supremo and chief minister Banerjee said, “We know that the BJP and Central forces have tortured people. But even then, I will urge everyone to maintain peace and not resort to violence. If there are any allegations, approach the police. Till we take oath, law and order is not in our hands. Despite its defeat, the BJP is torturing people.”
On Monday, union ministry of home affairs (MHA) said that it had sought a report from the West Bengal government over alleged incidents of post-election violence.
In the West Bengal election, the contest between TMC’s Mamata Banerjee and BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari was a neck-to-neck fight. Mamata has won the West Bengal election but lost the seat of Nandigram by 1736 votes to Suvendu Adhikari. But, the vote-counting at Nandigram would be challenged by TMC in higher courts as the party senses malpractices.
