A few minor incidents of violence rocked the Asansol Lok Sabha byelection while it was by and large peaceful in Ballygunge assembly bypolls today. A voting percentage of 64.03 was recorded in Asansol while Ballygunge clocked much less at 41.10 per cent. KMC mayor and senior Trinamul Congress leader Firhad Hakim attributed the low voter turnout to the scorching heat and the month of Ramzan.

In Chichuria of Jamuria assembly constituency, under Asansol Lok Sabha seat, a local leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Goutam Mondal was brutally beaten up while returning to his house from the booth. Mondal was initially taken to Bahadurpur Primary Health Centre, but later shifted to a private super speciality hospital in Durgapur in critical condition.

Jyotirmoy Singh Mahato, BJP MP from Purulia and Chandrasekhar Banerjee, councillor rushed to the hospital to see him. DCP (central) of Asansol Durgapur Police Commissionerate said that Jamuria police have acted immediately and rescued him and later arrested Avisek Fouzdar and Suman Bagdi from Chechuria area in this connection.

BJP candidate Agnimitra Paul’s vehicle has been vandalised in Baraboni, where locals have been protesting against her visit inside the polling booth with armed paramilitary forces and moving in a convoy of 20 vehicles along with outsiders. “In Lalganj and in Booth 175, the TMC goons have attacked me. Bricks and stones and bamboo sticks have been hurled, the glass window panes of my vehicles were broken,” Paul added.

She alleged that the Barabani Police had prevented media persons from moving freely in the area. Her move of directing central forces not to allow state police inside the booth was criticised. Local BJP leader and former mayor of Asansol Jitendra Tiwari alleged that in Faridpur block of Pandaveswar, his party polling agents were threatened and most of them were absent today. He has alleged bogus voting in the area. He has even threatened the Pandaveswar PS OC and alleged that for one hour he has been detained in a spot so that TMC can cast bogus votes. Narendranath Chakraborty, MLA of Pandaveswar claimed that the opposition parties have failed to provide agents and elections have remained peaceful today.

Law minister and Asansol North MLA, Moloy Ghatak alleged that the central paramilitary forces were working on the instructions of the BJP leaders. “Even in my voting booth they harassed me. Agnimitra Paul is roaming inside booths with goons and despite complaints to EC, no action was taken,” he added. Shatrughan Sinha, the TMC candidate said that he is very much satisfied with the polling proceedings today and his opposition has been bringing false charges out of fear of defeat. He also visited a few booths. CPM candidate Partha Mukherjee and Congress candidate Prasenjit Pututundi also cast their votes in Ravindra Bhawan and Ethora respectively.

Mukherjee said that the state police were present inside many booths. Around 1,225 voters of Harishpur village, under Raniganj assembly seat, called for a poll boycott today in protest against the subsidence in the area. They demanded rehabilitation and did not cast their votes in 278 (AC) booth number 123/124. The TMC alleged that in the Khandra area of Raniganj, BJP agents are threatening voters in Booth 141. In Booth 43 of Asansol, she went inside the booth with her armed guards and in Booth 34 of Asansol, the CRPF did not allow voters to go inside with mobile phones.

The ruling party has complained to the Election Commission. A presiding officer in Barabani assembly area was changed after allegations of false voting by the EC. BJP supporters complained of booth jamming and alleged that their agents of the two constituencies were not allowed to sit in the booth. Meanwhile, even though a peaceful polling was recorded in Ballygunge, TMC candidate Babul Supriyo alleged that he was not allowed to enter a booth in this constituency and said that he would complain to the EC about it.

In Ballygunge, Supriyo is pitted against BJP’s Keya Ghosh and CPM’s Saira Shah Halim. Over 650 booths out of 2012 in Asansol and all 300 in Ballygunge were identified as sensitive. Around 130 companies of central forces have been deployed for the polls. Asansol has around 1.5 million voters while Ballygunge has around 250,000.