West Bengal Panchayat Elections: 30 cases of booth capturing & burning of ballot boxes reported since morning

The internet is flooded with visuals of violence from the state under election, West Bengal. The death toll as per the official data reached 34 since the date of the elections was announced. Since morning as many as 15 people associated with different political parties have lost their lives.

Apart from the number of deaths, the state has made a mockery of democracy. Visuals showed a number of booths were captured by miscreants, people with guns stopped locals from polling, ballot boxes were taken away, presiding officers with teary eyes left the booth and ballot boxes were set ablaze.

Here is a list of 30 such cases reported from different districts of Bengal till 5 in the evening:

In Arambagh, a town in Hoogly City of the state miscreants including women and children forcefully barged into the polling booth and tools away a number of ballot boxes. Visuals from the same can be seen here.

A similar attempt of capturing the booth was made in Baniakhari village located in the Matigara subdivision of the Darjiling district. Here a booth (number–59) was captured by miscreants. Visuals can be seen here.

Fearing attacks by miscreants, the poll workers in the Mayureshwar, Birbhum left the booth. The workers were scared of anything serious happening in the area. Visuals of a presiding officer crying on camera also went viral from this booth. Visuals can be seen here and here.

In another attack at a polling booth in Baravita Primary School of Sitai, a Community Development Block (CDB) in Coochbehar was vandalised and ballot papers were set on fire. Visuals for the same can be seen here.

In North 24 Pargana district the police recovered a ballot box from the drain after miscreants stole it. The filthy water of the sewage was seen coming out of the box. The videos can be seen here.

The leader of Opposition for Bengal state assembly, Suvendu Adhikari shared a video from Diamond Harbour and wrote, “This is another chapter of the famous Diamond Harbour Model. The Polling Officers are themselves facilitating Rigging & engaging in false voting in the Polling Booth No. 137 of the Masat Gram Panchayat area in Diamond Harbour Block No I; South 24 Parganas district”

Visuals from the same spot showed a man bleeding as was attacked by miscreants for coming to vote. A local activist protested against the rigging of the booth and was hence attacked by the opposition TMC leaders. The visuals can be seen here.

In the Dinhata district ballot papers were recovered from a pond. A batch of ballot papers was disposed of in the water so as to disrupt the elections. A video of the same can be seen here.

Following the reports of proxy voting, miscreants set ablaze the ballot boxes at a booth in Coochbehar district. The video of the same is getting shared widely on social media. In the video further, it can be seen that the room where ballot boxes were kept was vandalised by the attackers. The video can be seen here.

In Howrah’s Tikiapara area, the locals vandalised the booth over an alleged proxy voting, the presiding officers left the spot and the ballots were also left in place. The election roll call, the tables and chairs were all vandalised by the attackers. The video can be seen here.

At Community Development Block (CDB) Kultali located in the South 24 Parganas district locals clashed with miscreants over an attempt of capturing the booth. A video can be seen here.

At Islampur an area in the Uttar Dinajpur district the polling stopped within an hour or so of its beginning. The reason was attempts of capturing the booth, the presiding officers decided to suspend further polling and the booth was shut down. The video can be seen here.

In Murshidabad district miscreants hurled bombs at the polling booths, they were all equipped with explosives and sticks, this was done to disperse the masses assembled for the polling and capture the booth. The video can be seen here. 

A day before the polling, on July 7 the locals at a booth in North 24 Parganas tried capturing the booth and disrupt the polling set for July 8. Following the attempt the locals assembled and a scuffle broke out. The video can be seen here.

In the same Noth 24 Parganas, the ballot papers were thrown in the water at the Bongaon area. Sharing the information a verified Twitter user wrote, “There’s panic spread across State right now amongst workers over non-availability of Central Forces. Even Polling Officers are scared of what is to come tomorrow. In some, locals call for a boycott. At Bongaon, ballot papers are thrown in the river saying, No Force, No Vote”

In Dulalpur village, located in Purb Medinipur district attempts were made to put proxy votes and it was highlighted after the locals raised their voices. A video can be seen here.

As per a report by ABP news, in Purb Medinipur district the police attacked the people assembled to vote at the polling booth. Also, a video of a man filling all the ballot papers on his own was also shared from the same area. The video can be seen here.

The BJP state head, Sukanta Majumdar shared a video of the man running with ballot box in hand. He shared the video with the caption, “A person is seen running away with the ballot box in the Panchayat election. If this is the kind of election @CEOWestBengal conducts, better to declare the result without even having this exercise. At least precious lives would be saved.”

Majumdar also shared a video from a polling booth where a man was sitting near the ballot box telling people where to put the mark. This was being done in front of the presiding officers. The video can be seen here.

In Nurpur village of Murshidabad district, the ballot papers were seen lying all over the ground outside the polling booth. Notably, this was done by the locals over allegations that the TMC members have already rigged the booth and had cast the vote on their behalf. When the ballot boxes were thrown outside, all the papers were already filled. A video of the same can be seen here.

News Agency ANI reported Residents of Nandigram Block 1 of Purba Medinipur district say that they are boycotting the election until Central forces are deployed at booth numbers 67 & 68 in Mahammadpur No. 2 area.

The agency quoted a local man, Govind saying, “There is no Central force here. Booth capturing keeps happening here by TMC. They do bogus voting even in the name of the deceased. We won’t allow voting here unless Central forces come here…”. The video can be seen here.

The ballot boxes were thrown away in the Kholakhali Panchayat area of the Diamond Harbour block in the South 24 Parganas. The video can be seen here.

The BJP IT cell in-charge Amit Malviya shared a video of booth capturing and wrote, “West Bengal is ‘suppose’ to vote for Panchayats tomorrow, 8th Jul, but TMC goons are already attempting to capture booths… In this video villagers of Kanchrapara GP, Booth-129, North 24 Pargana can be seen fighting back. SEC has wilfully failed to implement Court orders”

In Nadia district, no one showed up for voting and the election workers were locked inside the polling booth following the attacks and vandalism outside the booth. The miscreants barged into the booth and ransacked the ballot boxes. The visuals can be seen here.

Sharing a video the BJP for Bengal wrote on Twitter, “Polling Center: Piara Purbo Ghosh Para, Booth #218, Shayesta Nagar 2. The ‘chappa’ vote is underway! People exercise their voting rights, but in Bengal’s elections, TMC culprits cast the votes while the people wait in queues. Mamata’s election system has killed democracy in Bengal”.

A local reporter shared a video with the caption, “Women folk in #Nandigram threaten #Bengal police officer that they will consume poison if central forces are not deployed”. Watch the video here.

News Agency ANI reported, “Stone pelting and hurling of bombs reported at booth numbers 25 and 26 in Nagharia area of English Bazar in Malda district. Police personnel were present at the spot. Injuries reported.”

News agency ANI reported, “Voting suspended at Indreshwar primary school in Dinhata after water was thrown into the ballot box here.”

BJP for Bengal shared a video and wrote, “Disturbing scenes from Diamond Harbor: Ballot papers scattered and neglected on the ground, while the ballot boxes witness the farce.”

Visuals of presiding officers crying on camera after the ballot boxes were looted were shared on social media. The video can be seen here.