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Sporadic violence during Calcutta civic polls

Rifat Jawaid in Calcutta

Sporadic incidents of violence were reported during polls to the Calcutta and Salt Lake municipalities Sunday.

All major political parties have alleged large-scale rigging. The Congress, Trinamul Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party accused the ruling Left Front of using the state machinery to its advantage. Trinamul leader Pankaj Banerjee alleged that the Communist Party of India-Marxist hoodlums resorted to intimidation and violence to prevent voters from exercising their franchise.

" It's now clear that with the administration on CPI-M's side, no election can be won in West Bengal. Even while, Marxist goons were busy capturing booths, the police remained mute spectators," Banerjee added.

Banerjee, however, said that the Trinamul would not demand a repoll since, "It (repolling) never ensured a fair election.'

The Congress too criticised the Left for using unfair means. West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee vice-president Saugata Roy told reporters at the party's state headquarters," Even though the CPI-M activists rigged polls, we are confident of emerging as a decisive force in the formation of the municipal corporation. What is shocking is the Trinamul's silence when CPI-M men were rigging the polls. While our workers resisted such attempts, Trinamul supporters were mysteriously silent," Roy remarked.

The CPI-M, for its part, congratulated the people for exercising their rights peacefully. The party, however, demanded repolling in two wards -- 8 and 10.

At many places, predominantly in north Calcutta, the rediff.com team witnessed violence by Trinamul, CPI-M and Congress workers.

At Victoria Girls College under ward 37 in north Calcutta, some CPI-M men hurled crude bombs soon after the rediff team reached the spot. The furious mob also attacked the booth. This correspondent was also attacked. However, Rapid Action Force personnel soon restored normalcy.

Trinamul Chief Mamata Banerjee said she was not satisfied with today's election.

In Salt Lake, some miscreants allegedly CPI-M supporters, went berserk and destroyed electronic voting nachines. The miscreants were armed with pistols and bombs. Even the police were helpless. The polling was held up for an hour until RAF personnel reached the spot. This led to a verbal duel between senior BJP leader Tapan Sikdar and state Transport and Sports Minister Subhas Chakraborty in the presence of a large media team.

Towards the end of polling, a group of miscreants threw bombs at Vidya Sagar College polling booth and beat up Congress nominee Shivani Ghosh. The violence proved too much for Congress worker Ranjan Aditya, who had a heart ailment. He died on the spot.

The BJP has demanded repolling at Ward 6 of Salt Lake municipality. According to State Election Commissioner Anish Majumdar while 65 percent polling was recorded in Calcutta, Salt Lake witnessed an estimated polling of about 70 percent -- far lower than previous civic polls here.

Majumdar told rediff.com that the commission was yet to take any decision about repolling.

" We are still awaiting the reports from presiding officers and poll observers. We will a take a final decision by Monday," he said.

Majumdar, however, hinted that repolling was likely at some booths, which may take place on June 27.

The counting begins on Wednesday.

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