Lost polls due to 'hyperactive' police: Madan Mitra

Former West Bengal minister Madan Mitra on Thursday said he lost the 2016 assembly election because a section of police was "hyperactive" during the polls.

"I have submitted a report to the Chief Minister (Mamata Banerjee) that a section of police including deputy commissioner, assistant commissioner of Barrackpore police commissionerate and inspector in-charge of Belgharia police station were hyperactive.

"They tortured genuine voters including women who were not allowed to cast their votes. Innocent people were arrested 5-7 days prior to polls day," he alleged while interacting with media persons here.

"Voting percentage was brought down by terrorising voters," he said.

The only former state minister to have contested the polls from jail, Mitra failed to retain Kamarahati constituency in North 24 Parganas, going down to Communist Party of India-Marxist's Manas Mukherjee by over 4,000 votes.

Jailed in the multi-crore rupee Saradha scam, the former transport and sports minister also featured in the Narada sting operation which purportedly showed over a dozen Trinamool bigwigs accepting bundles of cash as bribe for favouring a fictitious company.

Arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation in December 2014, Mitra is one of the most high-profile casualties for the Trinamool Congress even as the party stormed to a landslide victory in the state.

--IANS

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