Trinamul Congress candidate and state minority community minister Giasuddin Molla was injured when he was attacked by an armed group of suspected BJP supporters on Wednesday evening

The attack on the Magrahat West candidate occurred in the Usti area of Diamond Harbour. Election to the Magrahat West seat was held on Tuesday.

Trinamul sources said the minister had suffered injuries to the head and had been admitted to a private hospital at Rajarhat. The sources said his condition was stable.

The attack on Giasuddin comes a day after six candidates, belonging to both Trinamul and the BJP, were assaulted during the third phase of the polls on Tuesday.

Police and the Trinamul sources said armed men had waylaid Giasuddin near Rajarhat More on Diamond Harbour road around 6.30pm. The attackers vandalised his car and beat up him and some of his party colleagues when he was going to attend an election meeting.

Trinamul supporters protesting against the attack raised blockade on NH117 at various locations in South 24-Parganas district. The agitators also set afire a bus at Shirakol crossing and ransacked several vehicles.

Trinamul supporters blocked railway tracks at various locations under the Sealdah south section disrupting train services during rush hours.

In retaliation, BJP workers were attacked by alleged Trinamul activists at a number of places like Magrahat and Usti.

Additional police forces were sent to control the situation. Para-military personnel have been engaged for area domination and to clear roads and restore normalcy.

“It was a planned attack by the BJP....The goons had planned to kill Giasuddin but his security personnel and local residents managed to free him from the clutches of the goons,” a Trinamul leader in Magrahat said.

However, the family members of the minister did not rule out the possibility of the Indian Secular Front’s involvement in the attack.

The Mathurapur BJP organising district leadership has rejected Trinamul’s charges. “The attack must be the outcome Trinamul’s infighting. We are being maligned without any proof,” a BJP leader said.

Post-poll violence

Three polling agents of the Trinamul Congress were allegedly beaten by BJP workers in Hooghly’s Khanakul late on Tuesday night. Sources said three polling agents were attacked at their homes after they had returned from booths in the Krishnanagar area of Khanakul. The trio were admitted to a hospital in Arambagh with head injuries.

Additional reporting by Snehamoy Chakraborty