West Bengal polls: Bhabanipur feels the heat as Mamata and Suvendu take on each other | India News
New Delhi: Bhavanipur center is witnessing high voltage drama as chief minister Mamata Banerjee Amid ongoing voting for the second phase of the West Bengal assembly elections, incumbent and his arch-rival Subvendu Adhikari have traded barbs at each other.As polling began on Wednesday, Mamata and Subhendu landed in the same polling booth area and swiped at each other without any direct interaction.Mamata this time broke with convention and took the field before 8am, hinting at political stakes tied to constituencies and a larger fight for South Bengal.Although they did not face off or exchange courtesies, the two rival candidates were briefly in the same area in Ward 70 of Chakrabaria, where Banerjee sat outside the local party office after being accused of allegedly intimidating local TMC leaders.While Mamata was on the balcony of the party office, Adhikari arrived on the street directly opposite the venue, along with a large group of Central Army workers, and launched an attack on the chief minister, claiming that she realized that “not a single vote” was coming her way.Mamata alleges ‘election rigging’, claim dismissed by SubhenduMamata accused the BJP of trying to rig the election by using central forces, police observers and election officials.“BJP wants to rig these elections. Elections in West Bengal are usually peaceful. Are there goons here?” said Mamata.“Several observers have come from outside and are acting on BJP’s orders. They are going to the police station and creating pressure. They are calling for the arrest of all TMC agents. My party’s youth president was picked up this morning and released later,” he alleged.Meanwhile, Suvendu dismissed the chief minister’s claim as a sign of “desperation”, saying Mamata was “scared” as the state police no longer controlled the polling process.“Mamata is scared. Her police has been replaced by central forces, so she is scared. EC has deployed CAPF here, so if she has any problem, she should go to them. Why 40-50 people have come with her?” Adhikari Dr.Adhikari also accused Mamata of running around with “50-60 goons” despite a prohibitory order under Section 163 being in effect.“Banerjee is a candidate. She can certainly visit booths. But why this ‘goodgardi’ (bullying)? I have complained to the DEO of Kolkata. This time no one will be given a chance to intimidate,” he said.‘They are not voters, outsiders’Later in the day, Suvendu also alleged that he was surrounded and tried to attack him by TMC supporters while on his way to a polling station.According to Suvendu, the incident took place when he came to visit a polling booth, after which a group of TMC supporters chanted “Jai Bengal” and surrounded him.“I’m visiting the booth.”The situation turned heated prompting the intervention of security personnel deployed at the spot. Central forces allegedly resorted to lathicharge to disperse the crowd and bring the situation under control.Polling began at 7 am in key districts including Kolkata, Howrah, Hooghly, Nadia and North and South 24 Parganas, with voters queuing up early at several booths. Over 3.2 crore voters are eligible to vote, with 41,001 polling stations under tight security and webcasting surveillance.Prime Minister Narendra Modi has appealed to a record number of voters to vote, especially women and youth, calling for participation and strengthening democracy.The phase is seen as decisive, covering the TMC’s traditional stronghold in South Bengal, where it dominated in 2021. For the BJP, gains here are crucial to mount a serious challenge. Voting will continue till 6 pm, results will be out on May 4.
