Amid ongoing incidents of electoral violence in West Bengal, nearly ten days after the last elections, Suvendu Adhikari, Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly and a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), filed a petition with the Calcutta High Court on June 10 regarding the issue of post-election violence.
A Division Bench, led by Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnanam and including Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya, announced that the court will consider the petition for a hearing today.
A single-judge Bench led by Justice Kaushik Chanda voiced concerns last week regarding post-election violence and issued an order permitting those impacted to email the State’s Director General of Police (DGP) with their grievances. In addition, the court ordered the DGP to provide a report detailing the number of complaints received and the actions done in response within ten days.
Suvendu Adhikari claims that thousands of BJP workers have fled their homes and taken shelter in the BJP offices, with their shops and businesses being looted. He further stated that not only the workers but also their family members are facing attacks.
Haldar, a BJP worker from the Vidyadhar Palli area of Baruipur, under the Jadavpur Lok Sabha constituency, left home with his wife and children a day after casting his vote on June 1. While the wife and kids were sent to a relative’s house, Haldar and around 50 others like him took shelter at the party office. He said, “Election season mane amader ghor chharar season (election season for us means the season of leaving home).”
In Bankura’s Kotulpur, several houses of the BJP workers were vandalised despite Bishnupur candidate Saumitra Khan winning the seat. In Cooch Behar district’s Natabari area, a BJP worker was allegedly attacked by a TMC supporter with a gun.
This isn’t the first instance; similar violence unfolded after the 2021 Assembly and 2023 Panchayat polls in West Bengal, indicating a pattern of post-poll violence in the region.
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