Sporadic violence in WB, over 50 pc polling till 1 pm

Sporadic incidents of violence were reported during polling in the fifth phase of Lok Sabha election in seven seats of West Bengal on Monday, with 50.64 per cent of nearly 1.17 crore voters casting their ballots till 1 pm, an official said.

Incidents like clashes between TMC and BJP workers, hurling of bombs, injury of a candidate due to lathi charge by central forces, manhandling of a contestant and beating up of a polling agent were reported.

Of the seven constituencies, Bangaon (SC), Barrackpore, Hooghly and Howrah constituencies reported such incidents of violence, the official said.

The other three seats are Uluberia, Arambagh (SC) and Sreerampore.

"So far polling is good but some stray incidents of violence were reported from a few places. We have taken immediate steps in these places as per requirement," he said.

A scuffle between Barrackpore seat's BJP candidate Arjun Singh and central forces was reported when the former TMC MLA tried to enter a booth following allegations that voters were not being allowed to exercise their franchise there, the official said.

Singh who was allegedly injured during the scuffle, was later seen chasing "fake voters" in Naihati area.

"Our agents were not allowed inside booths. People were not allowed to vote properly and I went there to have a look. I have the right to enter booths but police stopped me and hit me," Singh told PTI.

Alleging that the police are not doing anything to stop rigging in some booths of Barrackpore seat, Singh demanded that polling be stopped and re-polling ordered.

The maximum number of "sensitive" booths in Monday's elections is in Barrackpore seat where TMC sitting MP Dinesh Trivedi has been pitted against Singh, who switched over to the BJP recently after he was denied a ticket by party supremo Mamata Banerjee.

In Howrah's Balitikuri, TMC candidate and former India footballer Prasun Bandyopdhayay was "manhandled" allegedly by central forces when he tried to enter a booth there.

Bandyopadhyay said, "I had gone there to see poll proceedings. There was nothing wrong in it. But the central forces msanhandled me for no reasons."