KOLKATA: A day after a BJP worker was hacked to death at Nadia in Krishnanagar constituency in West Bengal and prohibitory orders under Section 144 were imposed at 17 pockets at Sandeshkhali, the situation remained tense in all the constituencies before the poll verdict day.
Sources in the Election Commission said 400 companies of additional Central Armed Police will be deployed till June 19 to curb post-poll violence in the state. The EC has arranged a three-tier security measure outside every counting centre, with 92 companies of central forces along with 2,525 personnel of the state police.
In Kaliganj, Hafijul Sheikh was shot at and then hacked twice allegedly by Trinamool activists. His was decapitated and his body was taken away. When the incident happened, Sheikh was having tea at a local tea shop, which was a stone’s throw from his house.
BJP Krishnanagar candidate Amrita Roy rushed to the spot on Sunday. “I knew about Hafijul joining our party. It is repulsing to see someone’s head being taken away. This is sadism and perversion,” Roy said.
Hafijul was earlier with the CPM and joined the BJP ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.
Meanwhile, Sandeshkhali was on the boil with women protesting and preventing the Central forces, police and RAF from entering Sandeshkhali to arrest a person linked to Saturday’s violence.
Fresh trouble erupted in the area with police entering the villages in Sandeshkhali’s Agarhati, along with CAPF and RAF on Sunday afternoon, and conducting raids. The women claimed they were beaten up. The women surrounded the police vehicle and prevented the arrest of a BJP worker by dragging him out of the police van.
In separate incidents, CPM workers were attacked in various parts of Jadavpur constituency. A CPM worker was allegedly attacked by Trinamool miscreants and her nose was punched. She received an injury in her chest. Blasts were reported in two locations in Barrackpore constituency, including in front of the residence of BJP candidate Arjun Singh’s polling agent.
CPM candidate of Jadavpur Srijan Bhattacharya said “Our workers were being threatened by TMC workers in various areas. We have already complained to the Election Commission and informed the police. But the police have failed to take any action against the accused.”
However, TMC leader Shantanu Sen refuted the allegations and said attempts were being made to tarnish the party image ahead of the verdict day. Governor C V Ananda Bose on Sunday said he was worried after getting reports about post-poll violence in Sandeshkhali, and asked Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to intervene immediately and restore peace there.
Bose announced that a peace room at Raj Bhavan would be open 24x7 to receive complaints about violence.
