Sporadic incidents of violence and alleged attacks on Opposition parties marked Wednesday's bypolls for four Assembly constituencies in Bengal with the BJP terming the exercise as a "mockery of democracy" and demanding a gross reform of the electoral process as it felt merely "deploying central armed police forces was not enough to ensure peacefull polling in the state".

While the BJP highlighted attacks on its Bagda candidate and intimidation of party activists in support of its claim, the Trinamool Congress described the complaint as a "fake narrative that was nothing but the outcry of the side staring at defeat".

The BJP had an edge in the four constituencies where bypolls were held as it had won three seats — Ranaghat South, Bagda and Raiganj — in the 2021 elections and the saffron party had leads in these places in the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls.

Riding high on its Lok Sabha poll performance, the TMC has left no stone unturned to turn the tables on the BJP in this bypoll.

Despite bagging 29 seats in the Lok Sabha, three of the four seats remained a pain for the TMC as it came second to the BJP in the recent polls.

"The party pulled out all plugs as it is desperate to win all four, particularly the two seats — Ranaghat South and Bagda — that have strong Matua presence," said a state-level TMC leader.

The impact of TMC's desperation resonated in the voices of several BJP leaders on polling day.

"Polling in Maniktala was a farce...We have not received all the data so far....We could even demand cancellation of polls there," BJP Bengal spokesperson Shamik Bhattacharyya said adding that police, civic volunteers, general administration, and party workers joined hands to unleash terror to ensure Trinamool's supremacy.

While Trinamool refuted the charges, BJP's complaint made it evident that the party was unable to resist an upbeat Trinamool's mobilisation of voters.

The biggest incident of attack on Opposition parties took place in Bagda's Gadpukuria, where BJP candidate Binoy Kumar Biswas and his vehicle ran into ruling party activists when he went to visit a booth in his constituency (No. 188) to prevent proxy voting as reported by his party workers.

While Biswas was allegedly manhandled by violent Trinamool supporters, his car was vandalised.

Biswas was shoved out by CAPF personnel while speaking to the presiding officer. Later a group of about 100 Trinamool supporters gheraoed him and raised "go back" slogans. Biswas was allegedly pushed and slapped and he had to run away to escape further attack by TMC supporters, said a voter who turned up to vote. As Biswas tried to escape, Trinamool supporters allegedly vandalised his car.

Earlier in the day, Biswas had to face angry TMC workers at Dihildaha Primary School (polling booths 81 and 82). CAPF personnel rescued him and asked Biswas to leave the place.

"Trinamool supporters were terrorising voters and carrying out proxy voting in. large scale.... I tried to prevent it and urged voters to overcome the fear. But they attacked me," Biswas told The Telegraph.

The first incident of poll-related violence was reported at Bagda on Monday night when the house of a BJP polling agent was attacked. The trend continued into Wednesday with TMC goons allegedly hurling crackers at the house of a BJP polling agent attached to Sagarpur primary school (booth 78) to unleash panic among his family members. As his house was attacked and he received threats to his life, Sadhan Biswas, the polling agent, left the booth and took shelter elsewhere to avoid further trouble.

At Pritinagar in Ranaghat South, BJP leader Amal Biswas's house was ransacked, his minor daughter was assaulted allegedly by a group of armed Trinamool supporters who broke open his house during the early hours of Wednesday.

The CEO’s office received 91 complaints till Wednesday afternoon, out of which 61 were from Ranaghat South Assembly constituency in Nadia.

In Raiganj, BJP supporters alleged that a group of Trinamool supporters ransacked their camp office near booth number 197 in the Abdulghata area.

Later in the day, reports reached the administration that some people were trying to jam a booth in ward number six of the town. The gathering was dispersed after a mild lathi-charge.

Addressing the media, chief electoral officer Aariz Aftab said: “There were some reports of violence, but overall, the election was peaceful. We have promptly taken action whenever any reports of violence or malpractice have come to our notice.”