Bengal Panchayat Polls: 'No One Is Able To Vote', Says Sukanta As TMC Workers Block His Convoy In South Dinajpur

Bengal BJP President Sukanta Majumdar visited south Dinajpur where he was stopped by TMC workers. He alleged that BJP people are being stopped and no one is being to vote here.

A day before the counting of votes for West Bengal Panchayat polls, TMC workers on Monday staged a protest by blocking Bengal BJP chief Sukanta Majumdar’s convoy in south Dinajpur. A video shared by the news agency ANI shows a large number of protesters blocking the convoy while police officials try to clear the route. Talking to the media, Majumdar alleged that BJP candidates, workers are not being allowed to vote and efforts are being made to stop his party people.

"Here our candidates are not able to get out of the house, they have been kept in check. No one is able to vote. Yesterday there was siege by 150 people, efforts are being made to stop BJP workers continuously. We will inform about this from the state administration to the higher administration," he said, as quoted by ANI.

This comes as Bengal State Election Commission conducted repolling on 696 booths on Monday where violence and tampering with ballot boxes impacted voting on Saturday (July 8)

Voting in repolling for the West Bengal Panchayat elections on Monday ended with 64.42 per cent turnout. With this, the high-stake polls have concluded that witnessed unprecedented violence, killing and arson across the state leading to repolling on nearly 700 booths. The West Bengal panchayat polls were marred by violence, both in the run-up to the elections and on election day. As clashes and incidents of booth capturing were reported in various districts, at least 18 people were reported dead in poll-related violence. 

West Bengal State Election Commission said that ballot papers without the signature of the Presiding Officer and the distinguishing mark rubber stamp affixed at the back of the ballot paper will be considered to be invalid and will not be counted as valid.

BJP on Monday appointed a four-member fact-finding committee to visit the violence-affected areas in West Bengal tomorrow, where at least 18 people were killed during the panchayat elections on Saturday. The committee will visit the affected areas and report to BJP National President JP Nadda at the earliest. The four-member team will be led by former Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad. The committee will include Satyapal Singh, Rajdeep Roy, and Rekha Verma.

Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari said he is collecting evidence of alleged malpractice in several thousands of booths during the polling and will move the Calcutta High Court, stated the PTI report. "We had submitted a list of 6,000 booths to the SEC recommending repoll. Actually, false voting had taken place in 18,000 booths at the behest of the Trinamool Congress. We are collecting more evidence... video footage and everything," Adhikari told reporters, quoted PTI.