BARDHAMAN (WEST BENGAL): Two persons have been injured after a crude bomb exploded at a house in Ketugram assembly constituency in West Bengal’s Purba Bardhaman district, which will go to polls on Thursday in the sixth phase of elections, police said.

A villager who lodged a complaint with the police claimed that bombs were being made at that house. Addl SP (Rural), Dhruba Das, said that three firearms and materials used for making bombs have been recovered from the spot.

The BJP candidate of Ketugram Constituency, Anadi Ghosh, claimed that the Trinamool Congress workers were behind the incident as they are trying to create trouble in the area. TMC nominee from the constituency Sheikh Shahnawaz denied the charge and said that no party workers were involved in the incident.

JAIPUR: About 20 candidates of the Congress-led alliance in the Assam Assembly polls were flown to Jaipur on Friday with the party claiming it feared “horse trading” by the BJP.

They were taken to Hotel Fairmont on the outskirts of Jaipur.

It is the same hotel where Rajasthan Congress MLAs were lodged during a political crisis triggered by the rebellion of party leader Sachin Pilot against CM Ashok Gehlot last year.

“Around 20 candidates have been shifted to Jaipur from Assam today,” said Congress chief whip in the Rajasthan Assembly, Mahesh Joshi.

“The candidates were brought here as a precautionary measure looking at several incidents in the past when the party could not form government due to horse trading by the BJP despite having majority,” another Congress leader said.

He said the candidates were shifted to Jaipur so that the BJP could not make any attempt to influence them.

The three-phase Assam Assembly elections concluded on April 6 and the results will be out on May 2.

KOLKATA: BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain alleged that stones were pelted at him in Howrah on Tuesday night when he was campaigning for the West Bengal assembly election.

“TMC workers pelted stones on me while I was addressing a meeting at Muzzafar Chowk,” Hussain tweeted, saying he was safe and the party workers had lodged a complaint.

“It’s clear that TMC knew it is losing and hence is becoming desperate,” Hussain said.

“I myself went to the Golabari Police Station & asked them why police personnel were not deployed according to my Y + CRPF cover security protocol. Strangely, they had no answers for that.”

In his complaint, Umesh Rai, the BJP candidate from Howrah North, named few persons behind the attack, alleging they were all known TMC men in the area.

Police confirmed the lodging of the FIR and visit of Hussain to the station, adding that the alleged incident was being investigated.

The TMC denied any involvement of its workers and said the BJP was staging a “drama” to get attention as the roadshows and meetings of the saffron party were “failing” to draw crowds.

Earlier on Sunday, a roadshow attended by Hussain and Domjur assembly candidate Rajib Banerjee was stopped by police at Bankra area on the ground that there was no earlier permission.

Both Banerjee and Hussain had protested the action of police.

Action will be taken against those who were involved in assault on candidates in some constituencies during the third phase of assembly elections in West Bengal on Tuesday, Chief Electoral Officer Ariz Aftab said.

Aftab said his office has received a total of 1,802 complaints during the day and arrested 11 people for their alleged involvement in the attacks on candidates.

“Polling was more less peaceful barring some sporadic violence. There have been some incidents of assault on candidates and we have sought reports. Action will be taken against those who are found guilty,” he said.

In the third of the eight-phase elections, 31 constituencies went to polls in three districts Howrah (Part 1), Hooghly (Part 1) and South 24 Parganas (Part 2).

The Election Commission has also suspended four officials in connection with the recovery of three Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and four Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trails (VVPATs) from the house of an alleged TMC leader in Tulsiberia in Uluberia Uttar (SC) assembly constituency, the CEO said.

He said three home guards who were on duty there have been demobilised.

Though the seals of the EVMs and VVPATs were “intact”, the machines will not be used any further, he said.

Referring to the assault on Trinamool Congress candidates Sujata Mondal, Nimal Maji and Najmul Karim as well as BJP candidates Papiya Adhikary and Swapan Dasgupta, Aftab said, “Necessary and prompt action have been taken and investigation is underway”.

ADG (Law and Order) Jag Mohan said video footages are being probed and those found guilty will be treated as per the law.

Asked whether the EC has received any complaint regarding sexual assault of a Class 10 student allegedly by a central force personnel in Tarekswar late on Monday, the CEO said an FIR has been lodged and a probe initiated.

“The personnel has been immediately removed from the posting,” he added.

The poll panel on Tuesday also removed returning officers in eight constituencies of Kolkata to conform to regulations.

Aftab said West Bengal registered at least 77.68 per cent voters’ turnout till 5 pm on Tuesday.

Voting in 16 seats in South 24 Parganas district (part II), saw 76.68 per cent votes being cast by 5 pm.

While 77.93 per cent votes were cast in seven seats in Howrah (part I) and 79.36 per cent in eight in Hooghly (part I), they added.

“Voter turnout of 77. 68 per cent was recorded till 5 pm in 31 seats,” an EC official said.

Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee, however, alleged “blatant misuse” of central forces to “influence voters”.

“The blatant misuse of Central forces continues unabated. Despite us repeatedly raising this issue, @ECISVEEP continues to be a mute spectator, while men in uniform are being misused at several places to openly intimidate TMC voters and influence many to vote in favour of one party,” she tweeted.

Police arrested five persons — three members of the TMC and two of the BJP — for their alleged involvement in assaulting TMC candidate Sujata Mondal in Arambagh earlier on Tuesday, an officer said.

Television grabs showed the TMC leader being chased in an open field by people wielding sticks and iron rods and then hitting on the head with sticks.

Her security officer was also injured.

The TMC claimed that BJP “goons” didn’t allow the party’s agents inside the polling stations.

The BJP, on the other hand, accused Sujata of entering the area with TMC “goons” and creating unrest by threatening people.

Police also said they had launched a search for those who assaulted BJP candidate from Uluberia (Dakshin) assembly seat Papiya Adhikary when she went to Uluberia hospital to call on an injured party candidate.

The attacks were part of a series of clashes which were reported from several parts of Bengal, where polling is underway in the third phase of assembly elections.

BJP candidate for Tarakeshwar Swapan Dasgupta was also allegedly abused by TMC supporters while going on a round of polling stations, party sources said.

TMC candidate Dr Nirmal Maji claimed that he was “heckled” by BJP supporters and his vehicle vandalised when he tried visiting a booth in Uluberia (Uttar) constituency.

In Khanakul, TMC candidate Najmul Karim was allegedly beaten up by the BJP activists and slogans were raised against him.

Later, central forces rescued him from the area.

In Falta, a BJP candidate’s vehicle was attacked.

At least one person was injured when crude bombs were lobbed outside a polling station in the Canning Purba assembly seat.

TMC candidate Shaukat Mollah accused Abbas Siddiqui-led Indian Secular Front (ISF) of having organized the attack, a charge denied by the party.

In some of seats in South 24 Parganas, TMC and ISF candidates clashed in some areas, including the Mandirbazar area, where 12 persons were injured.

TMC turncoat and BJP candidate from Diamond Harbour seat, Dipak Haldar, alleged that his former party stalled voters from casting their votes.

In the Dhanekhali seat, state minister Asima Patra accused central forces of high-handedness and alleged that voters were stopped by BJP “goons” from reaching polling stations, an allegation dismissed by the saffron party.

A BJP supporter’s family member was allegedly killed in Hooghly district, hours before polling in the area, police said.

Madhabi Adak succumbed to her injuries sustained while protecting her son from a few men who barged into their house, they said.

In Durbrajpur, clashes broke out between the BJP activists and the police after the latter tried to recover the body of a saffron party worker found this morning.

Chief Electoral Officer Ariz Aftab has sought reports from poll personnel on all poll related violence which occurred on Tuesday, officials said.

Banerjee later, while addressing a rally, claimed BJP activists were forcibly occupying polling booths and attacking TMC members, including party candidates, while asserting that she would not be bogged down by “intimidatory tactics”.

BJP state president Dilip Ghosh dubbed the allegations as baseless and instead claimed that people had resisted TMC’s efforts to unleash a reign of terror.

The violence occurred despite the Election Commission imposing prohibitory orders under Section 144 of CrPC in all constituencies, after declaring them as ‘sensitive’.

GUWAHATI: The Congress-led grand alliance appears to have an edge over the BJP-led ruling alliance in the 40 constituencies where the third and final phase of Assam elections will be held on Tuesday.These seats are spread across lower Assam.

Congress heads the 10-party grand alliance, which also has AIUDF and BPF as components.

In 2016, they did not have an alliance among them. BPF was a BJP ally then.In 14 of the state’s 126 seats, the combined vote share of Congress-AIUDF was more than that of the winning candidates from BJP or its ally AGP. Four of these constituencies are going to polls on Tuesday.

There is a perception that the Congress-AIUDF deal will prevent the split of anti-BJP votes.

Another factor that could harm BJP is its decision to sever ties with BPF. The saffron party has found a new ally in United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL) in the Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR). In 2016, BPF had won all 12 seats in BTR.

Eight of these are going to polls in the third phase. BPF, which ruled the autonomous Bodoland Territorial Council for 17 successive years till last December, is expected to give UPPL a run for its money.

Key constituencies in this phase are Jalukbari, Patacharkuchi, Dharmapur and Bongaigaon. Jalukbari is held by the BJP’s strongman and minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. BJP state president Ranjeet Kumar Dass is contesting from Patacharkuchi.

He had won the last election from Sorbhog.The first two phases of polling in 47 and 39 constituencies had recorded voter turnouts of 79.97 per cent and 80.96 per cent, respectively. 

Three arrested for attacking EVM truck 

Silchar (Assam): Three persons were arrested for allegedly attacking a truck carrying reserve EVMs in Cachar district during the second phase of polling, a police officer said on Monday.

The police have identified more than 20 people for their alleged involvement in the incident which occurred at Jhapirbond near the National Automotive Testing and R&D Infrastructure Project.

NEW DELHI: Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Friday said the Election Commission needs to start acting decisively on reports of private vehicles transporting electronic voting machines, and a serious re-evaluation of the use of EVMs needs to be carried out by all national parties.

Tagging the tweet which carried the video, Priyanka Gandhi said every time there is an election, videos of private vehicles caught transporting EVMs show up.

“Unsurprisingly they have the following things in common: 1. The vehicles usually belong to BJP candidates or their associates. 2. The videos are taken as one off incidents and dismissed as aberrations 3. The BJP uses its media machinery to accuse those who exposed the videos as sore losers,” the Congress general secretary said.

The fact is that too many such incidents are being reported and nothing is being done about them, she said.

“The EC needs to start acting decisively on these complaints and a serious re-evaluation of the use of EVMs needs to be carried out by all national parties,” she said in a series of tweets.

KOLKATA: Hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a dig at TMC boss Mamata Banerjee, sought to know if she would contest the polls from another seat, implying her loss in Nandigram is imminent, the ruling camp in Bengal clarified that she harboured no such intention.

The EC has sought a report in connection with an incident in the Boyal area of Nandigram — where the feisty TMC chief was held up for more than two hours following a siege allegedly laid by saffron camp supporters.

BJP leader Jaiprakash Majumdar, echoing the prime minister, said that Banerjee is “likely to contest from another seat after sensing defeat in Nandigram”, an assertion rejected by the TMC leadership.

Slamming the BJP for “causing disturbance” in the high-stake constituency — where the chief minister is pitted against her protege-turned-adversary Suvendu Adhikari — TMC MP Sukhendu Sekhar Roy said the PM must “apologise for such wild and baseless claims”.

“What happened today in Nandigram reflects BJP’s frustration. The party will lose the election not just from the Nandigram constituency, but also other seats that went to polls in the first two phases,” he told reporters.

Another TMC leader, who did not wish to be named, said the question of Mamata Banerjee fighting from another constituency does not arise as she will be winning the Nandigram seat comfortably.

NANDIGRAM: BJP’s heavyweight Nandigram candidate Suvendu Adhikary cast his vote soon after polling began on Thursday morning.

Speaking to reporters, he said that he was confident that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who is contesting the elections against him from the Nandigram seat, will lose the polls.

“I have a very old relationship with the people of the area. I have a personal relationship with almost every person in Nandigram. Pretty confident that I will win the election,” Adhikari said.

“Entire villages have come out to vote in favour of the BJP,” he added.

Adhikari said that he went to the polling booth on a bike as the road was too narrow for a car.

“I will urge the people to come out early and cast their votes. There were reports of problems at some booths but those have now been solved. The polling is happening peacefully,” he said.

He said that he will try to visit all the booths in the constituency.

Further, the BJP leader claimed that the TMC has failed to depute agents in all the booths.

“It shows that Mamata Banerjee will not be able to win the elections,” he said.

Adhikari exercised his franchise for the first time in Nandigram after becoming a voter of the constituency ahead of the elections.

The Left Front, one of the allies of the grand alliance in West Bengal, announced its list of candidates for 39 Assembly seats on Friday.

KOLKATA: The Left Front, one of the allies of the grand alliance in West Bengal, announced its list of candidates for 39 Assembly seats on Friday. While Congress was given 12 seats and the newly-formed Indian Secular Front (ISF) five,  the alliance partners could not come to a unanimous decision in four seats.

“We will contest in 39 Assembly seats and five of our candidates are women. We have inducted many young faces in the fray,’’ said Left Front chairman Biman Bose after releasing the list of candidates.Nandigram is one of the four seats for which candidates are still to be chosen. It is learnt that the alliance partners are yet to find a person to take on Mamata Banerjee.

The Congress and ISF are yet to announce their candidates. The Left is hoping for a change after faring miserably in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. “Other than the young faces, many candidates are aged between 40 and 50,’’ said Bose, the veteran CPI(M) leader.

The party’s state secretary Suryakanta Mishra will not contest this time. “We have decided to give young faces berths. In the recent past, the party’s youth wing showed impressive performances while campaigning against the Centre and the state government’s anti-people policies,’’ said the leader.

CHENNAI/PERAMBALUR: Even as alliance talks are underway, senior leaders of the DMDK — read as members of party supremo Vijayakant’s family — have hinted that they might pull out of the AIADMK combine. LK Sudish, brother-in-law of Vijayakant, has put up a social media post that reads: “Vijayakant is our CM candidate, war drum is our symbol and DMDK flag is our flag.

It clearly shows that the DMDK has been upset over seat-sharing talks with the AIADMK, which is ongoing for the past two days.Meanwhile, Vijayakant’s son Vijay Prabahakaran has made a statement that their party “would never bow its head in front of anyone.” Speaking in Perambalur on Monday afternoon, he said: “DMDK has always held its head high. 

We are not the party which runs behind money or deals. Neither the DMDK nor its workers will ever bow their heads down.” Combined, a reading of both these signals has given analysts an idea that the DMDK is looking to leave the alliance.

During a meeting in Murshidabad, a Muslim-dominated district, Banerjee urged party leaders to put up a united fight against the BJP and the other divisive forces.

KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM would not be a factor in the upcoming assembly polls in the state as its role as “B team of the BJP” has been exposed in the Bihar elections.

During a meeting in Murshidabad, a Muslim-dominated district, Banerjee urged party leaders to put up a united fight against the BJP and the other divisive forces.

“During the core committee meeting, Mamata di assured us that AIMIM would not be a factor in Murshidabad district. She told us that Owaisi’s party was exposed after the Bihar polls,” a local TMC leader said.

Murshidabad district comprises 22 assembly seats.

In the recently concluded Bihar elections, the AIMIM won five seats in the Muslims-dominated Seemanchal region on the border of West Bengal.

Earlier this month, Owaisi had met Pirzada Abbas Siddiqui of Hooghly district’s Furfura Sharif to discuss the seat-sharing arrangement.

The AIMIM chief has already expressed his desire to fight the upcoming assembly elections in the state.

The TMC had dubbed the AIMIM’s entry in the state as an attempt to split the Muslim votes in the state and help the BJP.

The AIMIM has termed the allegation as “baseless” and “motivated”.

A deciding factor in nearly 100-110 seats in the state, Muslims, who constitute 30 per cent of the population, till 2019, have acted as a bulwark of the TMC against its rivals, with most of them voting in favour of the party, considering it to be a “credible” force that can resist the saffron surge.

In a development that might upset several political equations in election-bound state, Siddiqui on Thursday floated a new political outfit, contending that he wishes to be the kingmaker after the polls.

The influential Muslim cleric said his new outfit — Indian Secular Front (ISF) – plans to contest the elections from all 294 assembly seats in the state.

Elections to the Bengal assembly are likely to be held in April-May.