EC Seeks Report On Attack On BJP Candidate Bharati Ghosh As Polling For 59 Lok Sabha Seats Concludes Amidst Poll Related Violence In WB : Repolling Also Conducted In West Tripura & 2 WB Constituencies
Election Commission has sought report from the West Bengal CEO on the incidents related to assault of former IPS Officer Bharati Ghosh contesting Lok Sabha Poll from Ghatal against TMC’s sitting MP Dev. One of her security guards was injured in stone pelting. The state CEO has sought reports from the West Mindapore district magistrate about the incidents. Ghosh suffered minor injuries when a group of women allegedly attacked her when she tried to take one BJP agent inside a polling booth at Keshpur area in the morning, officials said. Following this, bombs were hurled and stones were pelted towards the former IPS officer’s convoy when she was going to visit another booth at Dogachia in Keshpur after receiving complaints of rigging there. Her security guard fired in self dfence, said BJP. One of her security guards was injured and a vehicle was damaged in the stone pelting following which the security officers restored to lath charge, the officials said. Her car has been seized. Meanwhile, BJP Leader and former Union Minister Mukul Roy was also harassed saying his car was searched. It was also alleged a Trinamool Congress worker was injured in firing by central forces guarding the BJP candidate .She denied the allegation. Meanwhile, voting for Phase 6 of the Lok Sabha Election contested by 979 candidates in seven states for 59 seats in India’s Lower House of Parliament concluded on Sunday, May 12, amidst poll related violence in West Bengal . Former IPS officer Bharati Ghosh, who is contesting as BJP candidate against TMC’s cine star Dev, was allegedly attacked in Ghatal. Her car was damaged by TMC workers, said BJP. WB BJP President Dilip Ghosh said: “at a booth in Rampura (West Medinipur), my people were being threatened since yesterday so I went to meet them. TMC goons attacked us, we were stopped from going inside the booth. “This is not for the first time that Bharati Ghosh was attacked. Since the TMC failed to stop her politically, it is trying to physically harm her, ”Dilip Ghosh added. When contacted, a senior official of the state CEO said a report was sought from the district magistrate. The CEO also sought a report after Ghosh was seen video-recording inside a polling booth at Pikurda in Keshpur. These people are stopping people from voting.” A BJP activist was found dead last night in Jhargram. TMC supporter sustained bullet injuries in West Mindapore. In West Tripura, repolling was held in 168 booths out of a total of 1679 and one each in Arambagh and Barrackpore, West Bengal. Congress and CPI-M had demanded fresh polling in 460 booths in West Tripura alleging malpractices by the ruling BJP .In the penultimate phase of voting, among the prominent candidates are former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, Union Minister Maneka Gandhi, Sadhvi Pargya Thakur, Meenakshi Lekhi, former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and cricketer-turned-politician Gautam Gambhir. Polling was held in Bihar’s Valmiki Nagar, Paschim Champaran,Purvi Champaran,Sheohor, Vaishali,Gopalganj,Siwan and Maharajganj.All. Polling was also held for all the seven Parliamentary Constituencies of Union Territory Delhi, ten constituencies in neighbouring Haryana ,Jharkhand’s Giridh,Dhanbad, Jamshedpur , Madhya Pradesh’s Morena,Bhind,Gwalior,Guna,Sagar,Vidisha,Bhopal and Rajgarh, Sultanpur,Pratapgargh,Phulpur, Allahabad, Ambedkar Nagar,Shraswati,Domariganj,Basti,Sant Kabir Nagar,Lalganj,Azamgargh,Jaunpur,Machhishar,Bhadohi and West Bengal’s Tamluk,Kanthi,Ghatal,Jhargram, Medinipur,Purulia,Bankura & Bishnupur. The voting for the 2019 general election will end on May 19.Results will be declared on May 23.In Delhi, among the early voters were President Ram Nath Kovind , Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora , Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant ,UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, AICC President Rajiv Gandhi, Delhi BJP President Manoj Tiwari ,Union Minister Harshavardhan and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his Deputy Manish Sisodia and prominent cricketer Gautam Gambhir , contesting for the East Delhi Parliamentary seat .In Delhi, 111-year-old Bachan Singh, the oldest voter in Delhi, voted at polling station in Tilak Vihar in Delhi. Till the last assembly elections in 2015, the centenarian cycled to the polling booth to cast vote. This time, he reached the booth in a car along with poll officers in full media glare. He was later wheeled into the polling both using a chair, says NDTV.State Minister for Urban Development and Municipal Affairs Firhad Hakim, blue eyed boy of TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee, claimed that the BJP restored to violence when the polling was going on in a peacefully. (edited by Pranab Kumar Chakravarty with input from several sources)