Sporadic incidents of violence reported, Meena Devi alleges attack

The CMC elections on Sunday were marked by sporadic violence across the city.

Till 10pm, 209 persons had been arrested in connection with alleged poll violence.

Some alleged instances of violence:

• Burrabazar: Meena Devi Purohit, the BJP’s ward 22 candidate and a former deputy mayor of Calcutta, was allegedly attacked by “outsiders” in front of a booth in Maheswari Balika Vidyalaya on Sovaram Basak Street. “They tore my clothes,” alleged Purohit.
• Brabourne Road: The elec¬tion agent of the Congress’s ward 45 candidate, Amitabha Chakraborty, was allegedly “pushed to the ground, slapped and kicked repeatedly” by a group of men at Jain Vidyalaya near BBD Bag in the morning. Santosh Pathak, the Congress candidate, blamed Trinamul for the as¬sault, saying his agent had protested “proxy voting”.
• Beleghata: Two women agents of the CPM were allegedly attacked by Trinamul cadres at a booth in a CMC prima¬ry school on CIT Road in ward 33 in the afternoon. The alleg¬ed incident took place at boot¬hs 25 and 26. Allegations of proxy voting led to the attack, said Rajib Biswas, a CPM leader.
• Burrabazar: “Outsiders” allegedly stormed a polling booth and damaged the EVM at Marwari Balika Vidyalaya in ward 23 of Burrabazar. Tri¬namul alleged proxy voting was on at the behest of BJP candidate Bijay Ojha. Ojha al¬leged Trinamul supporters had entered the booth to disrupt voting.
• Beleghata: Two bombings were reported in ward 36 in front of Khanna High School at 9.15am on Beliaghata Main Road. Trinamul candidate Sachin Singh accused Opposition parties of trying to terrorise voters. Officers of Entally and Beleghata police stations rushed to the spot. No one was injured and voting was not disrupted, said senior officers at Lalbazar. The po¬lice said they were looking for suspects.
• Shyampukur: A scuffle br¬oke out between supporters of the BJP and Trinamul at the Ramkrishna Dey students’ ho¬me in ward 7 as allegations surfaced that the agent of an Independent candidate was not allowed inside the polling booth. Officers of Shyampukur police station had to intervene amid allegations by BJP candidate Brajesh Jha of Trinamul foul play.
• Hastings: The CPM candid¬ate of ward 75, Faiyaz Ahmed Khan, was allegedly assaulted and his car damaged when he went to visit booths at Marine House in Hastings. Ahmed alleged Trinamul cadres were indulging in rigging in at least four booths and when he pr¬otested he was pinned to the ground and assaulted and the windscreen of his car dama¬ged. Ahmed, who was taken to SSKM Hospital, demanded the arrest of the accused and asked the police to scan CCTV footage on the premises.