Bengal Lok Sabha elections: BJP holds protest in Nandigram ahead of polls, says worker dies in TMC violence

Days before the sixth phase of voting in the Lok Sabha elections in West Bengal goes ahead on May 25, reports of violent incidents have poured in from Nandigram where the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has alleged that several of its workers were attacked by Trinamool Congress (TMC) workers last night.

The BJP launched a protest march in Nandigram on Thursday, announcing that one of its workers injured in the violence had died and several others had been hospitalized.

The TMC, however, denied any link to the violence and claimed that the clashes were due to internal conflicts among the BJP members.

Polling in Tamluk Lok Sabha constituency, which comprises seven assembly segments including Tamluk, Panskura Purba, Nandakumar, Mahisadar, Moina, Haldia SC and Nandigram, is scheduled for May 25.

The reports of violence come a day after TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee visited Opposition leader Suvendu Adhikari’s constituency Nandigram to seek votes for the party’s Tamluk candidate Devanshu Bhattacharya. It was served in

Addressing a rally here on Wednesday, Banerjee said the BJP needed to be ousted from power to safeguard reservation rights for people. She said a change of government at the Centre was imminent and the TMC would play a key role in forming the new government.

Ms Banerjee wondered what Suvendu Adhikari had told the people in the seat. Terming him a “gaddar” (traitor), she alleged that he had joined the BJP to escape the scrutiny of the ED and CBI.

“Suvendu Adhikari cannot be a son of this pure soil of Medinipur. This is the land of (freedom fighter) Satish Samanta and other revolutionaries,” he said.

Banerjee had alleged that Adhikari had rigged a victory in the 2021 state assembly elections by taking advantage of a power outage during vote counting.

He said he was aware that certain individuals had not allowed people to vote in some areas of Nandigram during the 2021 state assembly elections.

He warned them and said, “The consequences of their actions will not be good. They should be careful. After Devansh’s victory, I will come to Nandigram within a month.”

Meanwhile, Bengal police conducted searches at several places in Purba and Paschim Medinipur associated with Adhikari and other BJP leaders on May 21 and 22. The raids also led to the arrest of local BJP leaders, sparking widespread outrage.

The BJP has accused West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee of trying to intimidate its party workers ahead of the state’s sixth elections.

Find out more about the 2024 Lok Sabha elections schedule, voter turnout and upcoming developments on the News18 website.