Suvendu Adhikari had defeated Mamata Banerjee from Nandigram in 2021, even as TMC had won otherwise; It later entered the council through by-poll.
After voting in Bhabanipur, West Bengal’s CM and TMC candidate Mamata Banerjee alleged “atrocities” and “seize” of polling stations by CRPF, while her rival, BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari, chanted religious and political slogans “Jai Sri Ram” and “Hindu Hindu, bhai bhai” after casting his vote three hours earlier, on Wednesday.
Bhabanipur is the most high-profile contest in the highly charged elections in Bengal this time. Suvendu Adhikari had defeated Mamata Banerjee from Nandigram in 2021, even as TMC had won otherwise; It later entered the council through by-poll.
“Since last night, they have started committing atrocities and arresting many of our people. It is contempt of court,” Banerjee said.
While claiming that the Trinamool Congress would still win, she claimed, “CRPF cannot torture like this. There is no state police in any booth. CRPF has taken over everything. They should be securing the borders; instead of doing that, they are securing one political party.”
She added: “I have never seen this before. I have been running for elections since 1984, but the atrocities are terrible.”
Earlier, Opposition Leader Adhikari came out of the booth after voting and raised his arms, chanting slogans of “Jai Sri Ram” and said that Hindus should be united.
At the podium, he was surrounded by some TMC supporters who also chanted against him.
Voter turnout
Overall, more than 78% of the 3.2 crore voters have cast their votes in the second and final phase of the West Bengal Assembly elections till Wednesday afternoon. The participation rate remained almost parallel to the first stage, which recorded more than 78.77% of the vote until three o’clock in the afternoon.
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Purba Bardhaman recorded the highest participation at 83.11%, followed by Hooghly at 80.77% and Nadia at 79.79%.
Howrah recorded a turnout of 77.73%, North 24 Parganas 77.39%, while Kolkata North and Kolkata South recorded a turnout of 78% and 75.38% respectively. South 24 Parganas district, where many status contests are taking place, recorded 76.75% votes.
