Shantinagar, behind Sukantanagar, was witness to the biggest incident of unrest last Saturday when polling for the Bidhannagar Assembly constituency was largely peaceful.

The Trinamul Congress (TMC) and BJP supporters got into a scuffle in front of Naobhanga Primary School polling station, that prompted both BJP candidate Sabyasachi Dutta and TMC’s Sujit Bose to reach the spot.

The day after the polls, too, trouble erupted in Duttabad as clashes broke out among supporters of rival parties at Duttabad, on the fringes of Salt Lake, that left five persons injured, police said.

Ballot blues

At around 10am, trouble started brewing at the polling station in Shantinagar when some women voters who were waiting in the school’s field alleged that that a group of unknown men had pelted stones at them.

According to one of the women, Shyamali Mondal, the stones pelted by the men landed on the heads of at least three women inside the polling station that left them injured.

“We immediately took them to a local pharmacy that was shut but we asked the owner to open it and put antiseptic solution on their heads alongwith water,” said Mondal.

Soon after this, a large police contingent led by the deputy commissioner headquarters of the Bidhannagar Commissionerate Surya Pratap Yadav reached the spot, along with a RAF team, to bring things under control.

“A large group of people who are not from this locality had gathered here outside the booth. Once the supporters clashed, some men were pushed to the ground before a large police force rushed in,” said Lakkhi Pal, who owns a pan shop in the area.

After the police reached, so did Dutta and blamed the Bidhannagar South police station of inaction.

“I heard that many outsiders had gathered in front of the school and were intimidating voters. This was happening in front of officers of the Bidhannagar South police station and one of their officers too was aiding the outsiders to jam the booth and cast false votes,” Dutta claimed.

According to him, at least two women supporters of BJP had been injured and he then called up officials of the Election Commission of India to report the issue.

Several minutes after Dutta reached, Bose also reached the area and alleged that Dutta was trying to incite violence.

BJP candidate Sabyasachi Dutta licks an orange lolly

“Dutta is moving around with 15 outsiders. He cannot do this. He knows he has lost the elections. This is why he is up to such shenanigans. I have reported it to the observer,” said Bose.

The observer too reached the spot and was heard telling police officers that he would not tolerate such trouble mongering.

“I won’t stand this. If need be, put both the candidates in a single car and give a police escort team in front of the vehicle and one more behind it and tell them to move through the constituency together,” the observer told a senior police officer at the spot.

A similar incident was reported from Nayapatti when an argument broke out between Dutta and former Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation councillor Joydeb Naskar.

BJP supporters alleged that Naskar had come to the area with some outsiders to create trouble. Dutta was the target of slogans from a section of men and women who were standing outside Naskar’s house.

Police as well as the central forces then moved in and asked the residents to disperse from the area if their votes had been cast.

In Rajarhat

The situation was similar in the Rajarhat New Town constituency.

At Hatiara and Ghuni, two BJP polling agents alleged they were stopped from entering the booth by TMC workers and claimed they were assaulted with blunt objects. “Trinamul supporters assaulted me and even tried to run over me with a scooter,” said Swapan Malakar, the BJP polling agent.

At Machibhanga, a scuffle broke out between the BJP and Trinamool supporters where TMC alleged BJP workers were trying to influence voters within 100 metres of a booth.

Meanwhile, CPM candidate Saptarshi Deb alleged that polling agents affiliated to his party were not allowed to sit inside several booths in Rajarhat and Narayanpur.

Later, Deb and his supporters sat on a demonstration on Rajarhat Road, alleging booth capturing and rigging by TMC poll agents. TMC candidate Tapash Chatterjee denied the allegations.