A Trinamul leader in Birbhum’s Nanoor allegedly tried to stop sitting MLA and CPM candidate Shyamali Pradhan from campaigning on Wednesday and threatened that hands of those daring to vote for the CPM would be chopped off.
Pradhan on Thursday lodged a complaint with police and the Election Commission in connection with the threat. She has accused Trinamul of preventing her from campaigning and creating an environment of fear in the run up to the polls. Nanoor is scheduled to vote on April 29.
Sources said Noorman Sheikh, husband of Trinamul panchayat member of Nanoor’s Agartore village, had come in the way of a group of CPM workers who were campaigning in the area along with Pradhan.
Sheikh accosted the CPM MLA and asked her why she had come to seek votes at the village after five years. He accused her of doing nothing for the area. This led to an argument between Pradhan and Sheikh. Pradhan said she could do little for the village because the local panchayat had refused to carry out work undertaken by the MLA.
At one point during the argument, Sheikh allegedly said no one would vote for the CPM. “He then added if anyone dared to vote for the party, their hands would be chopped off,” said a CPM source.
“There is no vote for the CPM. If anyone votes for the CPM, I will chop off the person’s hand,” Sheikh was heard saying in a video that circulated in social media. The Telegraph, however, did not independently verify the authenticity of the video.
A source in the Election Commission said an EC team accompanying Pradhan during the campaign had also recorded the incident. The video that went viral was not the one recorded by the EC, the source added.
CPM leaders accompanying Pradhan said it was a deliberate act to hinder the party’s campaign and create a fear psychosis among the voters. “He first asked me why I had visited the village after a long time and accused me of not doing any work. He said the road had been constructed by Trinamul. I explained to them that the Trinamul-run gram panchayat did not accept any money from my local area development fund as I represented the CPM,” said Pradhan.
Pradhan also asked the Trinamul leader why the people could not cast their votes in the last panchayat polls. “This visibly embarrassed him and he lost his cool,” said the CPM source.
Birbhum is one of the districts where most of the gram panchayats were won uncontested by Trinamul.
“There are many villagers who are our workers and supporters. The Trinamul leader backed out under protest by a large number of villagers. I have lodged complaints with both police and the Election Commission,” Pradhan said.
District Trinamul chief Anubrata Mondal did not agree with his party leader’s attempt to stop Pradhan from campaigning. “Every political party has the right to campaign before the polls and it was not right to stop anyone. However, people are angry with the CPM at Nanoor as the party had killed 67 persons under its rule.”