LS Polls, Round 4: Clashes break out in Bengal's Asansol, Babul Supriyo's car vandalised

Massive clashes broke out in West Bengal’s Asansol, which is voting in the Round 4 of the Lok Sabha Elections 2019 on Monday. News Nation has learnt that some locals had boycotted the elections and were demanding the central forces in their area. They had alleged that during the last Panchayat elections, the Trinamool Congress ‘goons’ had troubled them and not allowed them to vote. On Monday morning, some Trinamool workers tried to vote at the polling booth. A scuffle broke out between the Trinamool supporters and the local agitators. The scene got ugly when Asansol’s sitting MP Babul Supriyo tried to intervene. His car was also vandalised during the clashes. The polling has started now.

Supriyo had claimed that he will “take the central forces to that polling station. It is very good that people in West Bengal are aware and they want central forces so that they can cast their vote. This is why Mamata Banerjee is scared.” The BJP approached the Election Commission complaining that TMC workers have "hijacked democracy in the state" and again demanded deployment of central forces in all polling booths there. A BJP delegation, which includes Union Ministers Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Vijay Goel, and the party's media in-charge Anil Baluni, met the top officials of the poll panel here and submitted a memorandum in this regard. "The ruling Trinamool Congress workers have hijacked democracy in the state and are indulging in violence. They are being supported by the local machinery and we demand deployment of central forces in all polling booths," Naqvi said.

Eight seats - Baharampur, Krishnagar, Ranaghat (SC), Burdwan East (SC), Burdwan-Durgapur, Asansol, Bolpur (SC) and Birbhum – are voting in the round 4 of the Lok Sabha Polls. An electorate of 1,34,56,491 will decide the fate of 68 candidates in these eight constituencies, the Election Commission said. The commission will deploy a total of 580 companies of central forces, which will cover all the polling booths in the Lok Sabha constituencies to ensure free and fair polling, election officials said.

Key contests of 2019 Lok Sabha Elections Phase 4 in West Bengal

1. Asansol (2014 Result: BJP, Winner: Babul Supriyo, Margin: 70,480)

2019 candidates: Babul Supriyo (BJP) Vs Biswarup Mondal (Congress) Vs Moon Moon Sen (Trinamool) Vs Gouranga Chatterjee (CPM)

2. Bardhaman-Durgapur (2014 Result: Trinamool, Winner: Mamtaz Sanghamita, Margin: 1,07,331)

2019 candidates: SS Ahluwalia (BJP) Vs Abhas Roy Chowdhury (CPM) Vs Mamtaz Sanghamita (Trinamool) Vs Ranajit Mukherjee (Congress)

3. Baharampur (2014 Result: Congress, Winner: Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Margin: 3,56,567)

2019 candidates: Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury (Congress) Vs Krishna Juardar Arya (BJP) Vs Apurba Sarkar (Trinamool) Vs Id Mohammad (RSP)