A poll official was assaulted during an election training session at the block development office in West Bengal’s Nadia district on Friday after he reported a violation of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC).
The Election Commission (EC) has sought a report from the Nadia District Election Officer and ordered an FIR. “An FIR has been lodged against two people directly involved in the alleged assault on the poll official,” a senior district official said.
Saikat Chattopadhyay, a school teacher who came to attend the training, claimed that at the beginning of the session a promotional advertisement featuring West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was shown.
“I was surrounded and beaten. He led the attack himself. I was threatened. I feel unsafe. How can free and fair elections be held in this way?” Chattopadhyay told the media.
“I was in charge of the place. I was there since morning. This is a blatant lie. He was not assaulted,” Sayantan Bhattacharya, district director of Hansakhali, told the media.
This has sparked a sharp political standoff between the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of the Assembly elections.
“The TMC explodes again, this time in Ranaghat. This is not an isolated incident. This is the TMC’s culture of terror, where even a humble teacher exercising his democratic right and performing a constitutional duty during election-related training is beaten and threatened,” Suvendu Adhikari, a BJP leader, wrote on X.
“This school teacher is associated with the BJP. These allegations are baseless and fictional. Union Home Minister Amit Shah is coming. Before that, the BJP is trying to make such allegations to divert people’s attention from the SIR issue,” TMC leader Arup Chakraborty said.
