The biggest skirmish in Saturday’s election appeared to be one between two Trinamul Congress groups.
There was trouble outside AG Block Primary School in ward 30 when two large groups from opposing Trinamul factions gathered, one in front of Baisakhi market, by the school, and another on the ground opposite the school gate.
At this, some CPM supporters headed by candidate Arindam Das and the BJP candidate Umashankar Ghoshdastidar arrived and demanded police action.
Trinamul candidate Anita Mondal too came to diffuse the situation but left soon after.
A contingent from the Bidhannagar East police station tried to disperse the crowd.
“We pointed to individuals in a sizeable gang which came out after casting votes as outsiders but the police only asked them to go away. The cops need to check identity cards before letting people in,” Das said. But this, the officers explained, was beyond their purview.
The gathering would disperse only to recede behind Baisakhi market and some even took shelter inside the buildings of the adjacent Baisakhi Absan, which houses government employees. They were flushed out by the police around 1pm after residents complained.
Booths at the school witnessed high polling in stark contrast to the rest of the planned areas of Salt Lake. “I am a resident here for 40 years. There were many unknown faces in the queue. News of trouble here is sure to dissuade many of our neighbours from coming to vote,” Nimai Das, an 82-year-old voter, said.
The school had witnessed poll trouble even in the 2015 elections. Then, the corridors leading to its polling booths were chock-a-block with alleged outsiders.
At a polling station near the Reserve Bank of India housing complex, Trinamul candidate from Ward 37 Minu Das Chakraborty allegedly got into a fight with Paromita Saha Ghosh of the BJP.
Witnesses said the two candidates lunged at each other and the fight spilled out onto the main road in front of the complex that leads to Salt Lake stadium.
The situation was brought under control after police arrived. Saha Ghosh lodged a complaint with the election commission, demanding repoll in at least three booths.