West Bengal Assembly Elections | Phase 5 witnesses high turnout and sporadic violence
78.36% electors had exercised their franchise until 5 p.m. within the polling held in 45 Assembly constituencies.
High voter turnout and sporadic incidents of violence marked the fifth section of elections in West Bengal on April 17. Polling was held in 45 Assembly seats throughout six districts — three in north Bengal and three within the south. Till 5 p.m., 78.36% electors had exercised their franchise. Highest voting (81.73%) was noticed in Jalpiaguri, adopted by Purba Bardhaman (81.72%) and Nadia (81.57%). The voting share is anticipated to rise.
While native residents alleged that there was firing at Deganga Assembly phase in North 24 Parganas by central armed police forces, a report by the Superintendent of Police, Barasat acknowledged the allegation was not primarily based on any details.
West Bengal elections phase 5 updates | April 17, 2021
(*5*) Chief Electoral Officer Aariz Aftab mentioned. The CEO mentioned that 23 individuals had been arrested in particular incidents in the course of the day and 100 had been arrested as a part of preventive arrested.
At Ranaghat in Nadia, unbiased candidate Kaushik Bhowmick was arrested after a firearm was recovered from him. Violence was reported at Santipur police station space in Nadia when miscreants lobbed crude bombs on an individual, who suffered accidents, and was admitted to a hospital. At Gayeshpur in Nadia, the home of the BJP supporter was broken. Supporters of Trinamool Congress broke the door of the BJP supporter with sticks , barged into and ransacked his home. The CEO mentioned that senior cops are in Gayeshpur, and police will likely be stationed within the space.
Other than Nadia the place eight Assembly seats went to polls, violence between supporters of two teams of individuals had been reported in North 24 Parganas the place 16 Assembly seats went to polls. Biddhanagar and Baranagar, two constituencies bordering Kolkata, witnessed violent scenes when supporters of Trinamool and BJP clashed.
The supporters of every political group hurled bricks and stones in direction of one another in Shantinagar space of Bidhannagar Assembly constituency. The supporters of Trinamool and BJP got here nose to nose and exchanged blows. An enormous contingent of central forces needed to be rushed in to manage the scenario.
Tension prevailed within the space for hours and candidates of each events visited the realm. In Baranagar seat, BJP candidate and actor Parno Mitra was allegedly gheraoed by Trinamool activists whereas she was touring the constituency. Later within the day, the Trinamool supporters alleged that central forces personnel used pressure in opposition to them. In the adjoining Kamarhati constituency, BJP candidate Raju Banerjee alleged that he was attacked by Trinamool supporters on the behest of celebration candidate Madan Mitra.
In the fifth section of elections, the ECI deployed 1,071 firm of central forces, the very best deployment up to now. Despite the unprecedented deployment of forces, voters and polling brokers saying that they’re being threatened weren’t fully absent. At Minakha in North 24 Parganas, relations of a polling agent alleged that the agent was kidnapped. There had been reviews of scuffle in Bardhaman together with at Monteshwar the place the Trinamool candidate Siddiqulah Chowdhury alleged that central forces used pressure in opposition to celebration supporters. Polling was peaceable in north Bengal the place elections had been held in 13 seats in Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Jalpiaguri.
Record spike of COVID circumstances
The polling was held on a day when the State registered a report 7,713 new COVID-19 infections prior to now 24 hours. The variety of deaths additionally elevated considerably prior to now 24 hours with 34 folks succumbing to the viral an infection. The Election Commission has barred political events from campaigning from 7 p.m. to 10 a.m. and prolonged the silence interval from 48 hours to 72 hours in every of the remaining three phases of polls. On April 16, the State recorded 6,910 new circumstances with 26 deaths.