Hamidul Rahaman, the Trinamul MLA of Chopra in North Dinajpur, passed a controversial alert to voters of his constituency at a public meeting on Wednesday.

In his speech, Rahaman said: “I would like to inform the people that the central (security) forces will be here till April 26. After that, our forces will be there in the area. So, please don’t waste your vote. You should vote Trinamul or else, if you face any consequences after the elections, don’t lament.”

Chopra votes on April 26.

Although Chopra is located in North Dinajpur district, it falls under the Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat. Since 2009, it is the only Assembly segment where Trinamul has secured a lead over the BJP. The BJP led in the remaining six segments of Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts. In 2019, Trinamul had a lead of 49,000 votes in Chopra.

Chopra Assembly constituency and block are known for political violence. In last year’s panchayat elections, Trinamul won uncontested in all eight gram panchayats of the block, as well as the panchayat samiti and three zilla parishad seats.

During the rural polls, violence had sparked in Chopra as bullets and bombs flew in a rally of CPM supporters and candidates while they headed to the block office to file nominations. A CPM worker died in the attack and some others were injured.

Hamidul, at the public meeting, also made it clear that elected members of Trinamul in rural bodies should ensure that 90 per cent of the votes cast in their booths were in favour of the party.

“We have won the panchayat elections uncontested. There is no opposition here. Even then, I leave a 10 per cent margin but want each of you to confirm that Trinamul gets 90 per cent of the votes. After the elections, I will check the booth-wise results. If any panchayat member or panchayat samiti member fails to deliver, I will settle the score with him,” said the MLA.

Hamidul’s remarks have created political ripples. District BJP leaders have
reacted sharply to the MLA’s “threats”.

“The MLA has blatantly threatened voters. We fear his comments can trigger violence. We will file a complaint with the election commission,” said Basudeb Sarkar, the district BJP president of North Dinajpur.