Violence Erupts During By-Election in India's West Bengal, BJP Politician Attacked

© AP Photo / Bikas DasIndian paramilitary soldiers check vehicles on a highway during first phase of elections in West Bengal state in Salboni, India, Saturday, March 27, 2021. Voting began Saturday in two key Indian states with sizeable minority Muslim populations posing a tough test for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity amid a months-long farmers’ protest and the economy plunging with millions of people losing jobs because of the coronavirus pandemic
Indian paramilitary soldiers check vehicles on a highway during first phase of elections in West Bengal state in Salboni, India, Saturday, March 27, 2021. Voting began Saturday in two key Indian states with sizeable minority Muslim populations posing a tough test for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity amid a months-long farmers’ protest and the economy plunging with millions of people losing jobs because of the coronavirus pandemic - Sputnik International, 1920, 12.04.2022
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The eastern Indian state of West Bengal has been witnessing continuous clashes between workers from the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) and cadres from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Violence was seen during civic elections in February of this year, as well as assembly polls held last year.
Hours after voting in by-elections for the Asansol parliamentary seat commenced in the state of West Bengal on Tuesday, violence broke out at polling stations in the area.
BJP candidate Agnimitra Paul alleged that people from the ruling party TMC hurled stones at her convoy.
"TMC workers thrashed our security personnel with bamboo sticks. No matter how hard [state chief] Mamata Banerjee tries, the BJP will win here [Asansol]", said Agnimitra Paul, who is contesting against TMC's Shatrughan Sinha in the by-poll. "They are not allowing our polling agents to sit in polling booths. TMC goons ransacked my car. Now they have blocked cars of media persons".
Polling was necessitated after BJP politician Babul Supriyo resigned from this seat and joined the TMC last year.
Meanwhile, polling for the Ballygunge assembly seat also began amid tight security arrangements this morning.
Voting began at 7 a.m. (Indian Standard Time) today and will continue until 6:30 p.m. The results will be announced on Saturday.
Asansol, a metropolitan city, has around 1.5 million voters, while Ballygunge, a locality of South Kolkata, has around 250,000 voters.
The occurrence of violence during polls in West Bengal appears to be a common incident.
The Election Commission of India has identified 650 polling booths as sensitive out of 2,012 in Asansol. All 300 polling booths in Ballygunge have been identified as sensitive.
Around 130 companies of central security forces have been deployed for the polls.
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