The Jharkhand Assembly election began with a bang on Saturday, with Maoists exploding a bomb in the forests of Gumla district and Congress candidate from Daltonganj in Palamau district, Krishna Nand Tripathi, whipping fa pistol after he was “denied entry into a booth by BJP men”. .
No one was injured in any of the incidents. .
Tripathi, who was seen brandishing the gun outside a polling station in Koshiyara, known to be a stronghold of BJP candidate Alok Chaurasiya, was detained for around two hours and his gun and three bullets were seized by district arms officer Nisha Tirkey on the instructions of Palamau deputy commissioner- cum-returning officer Shantanu Kumar Agrahari. .
“My life was in danger,” Tripathi told The Telegraph. .
“Supporters of BJP candidate Alok Chaurasiya were hell bent on not allowing me to enter the booths where rigging was rampant. The Palamau administration has played a foul game and helped in looting of booths at Koshiyara, Naghma, Pathra and Majhigawan.” The district administration has reported the matter to the Election Commission of India along with video clips. The commission is learnt to have asked the Palamau DC to investigate the matter and submit a report for further action.
Around 11am on Friday, a scuffle broke out between two groups when Tripathi and his supporters were allegedly prevented from entering booths 72 and 73 at Koshiyara Government School. Agitators allegedly smashed the window panes of Tripathi's car and polling was affected for around half an hour.
Following the incident, Tripathi went to the Palamau district collectorate to lodge a complaint against BJP candidate Chaurasiya and his supporters.
Palamau superintendent of police (SP) Ajay Linda said Tripathi had submitted a written complaint stating that he had felt threatened after being surrounded by a large number of people at the booth.
Tripathi said he wanted an impartial probe by the Election Commission of India and demanded action against offi- cials who had sided with the BJP.
Tripathi, whose election affidavit says he is 42 years old, is contesting his fifth election from Daltonganj Assembly constituency. He has been MLA only once, in 2009. He was among the 61 persons in Palamau district who were exempted from the mandatory surrender of licensed weapons before polls because of the threat perception against them.
Tripathi was, however, evasive when asked why he was carrying a pistol to the booth.
Defending Tripathi, senior state Congress leader Rajiv Ranjan Mishra said: 'He had taken out the pistol in self defence. Otherwise, he would have been killed by the BJP workersThe BJP accused the Congress of threatening voters.
'Tripath, with his pistol in his hand,was threatening the voters and misbehaving with them. The Congress has no trust in democracy. we are going to request the Election Commision to take action against him.he must be debarred from contesting elections,' state BJP spokesperson Pratul Nath Shahdeo said.
Daltonganj, with 15 candidates in the fray and 3,41,860 voters, was among the 13 Assembly seats where polling was held on Friday in the first of the five-phase Jharkhand Assembly elections.