Kolkata: Barring a few stray incidents, elections in 108 municipalities passed off peacefully across the state on Sunday. According to the state Election Commission (SEC), the overall voting percentage till 5 pm was 76.51 per cent with the East Midnapore district registering the highest voting percentage of 84.16.
"There were clear cut instructions from the Chief Minister to take all possible measures for smooth conduct of the civic polls and accordingly we had made foolproof security arrangements. Not a single person has sustained grievous injury during the polls and not a single case of hospitalization has taken place. The police has intervened in every single small incident that occured and have taken prompt action," Director General of Police Manoj Malaviya said.
He added that there have been 79 preventive arrests and 51 persons have been arrested and detained in a number of cases related to law and order violations. "The police have been free and fair and taken independent decisions when it came to maintaining peace during the elections," Malaviya said.
He further maintained that the voting percentage is a clear indicator to the fact that the state police has played its part in ensuring that voters were able to cast their franchise. " In case of assembly or similar elections in which we have Central Forces, the voting percentage in the state was around 88 per cent. The Commission has recorded 76.51 per cent voting till 5 pm which is expected to go up by a few percentages. So, voters have been able to cast their franchise without any obstacle," Malaviya added.
There were some incidents of ransacking of EVMs by the BJP at some places like Barasat, Bhatpara and Basirhat in North 24-Parganas and also in Kharagpur. The police took prompt action by arresting two BJP candidates in connection with these incidents. BJP MP Arjun Singh's relative Sanjay Singh was one of those who have been arrested. The total EVMs involved were 17600 out of which 82 needed to be replaced due to ransacking and malfunctioning.
A disturbance was reported from ward 29 under Kamarhati municipality when three vehicles allegedly with police stickers affixed on them and some motorcycles were spotted by some locals. Alleging that outsiders had entered their area, some local people turned turtle one of the vehicles and ransacked one of the windows. A large police force from Barrackpore Commissionerate rushed to the spot and brought the situation under control.
In Rajpur-Sonarpur Municipality, a polling station was ransacked by unidentified goons and electronic voting machines were damaged. The SEC has sought a report in this case. A reporter and a cameraperson of a private channel were assaulted in the North Dum Dum municipal area.
Trinamool Congress lauded the efforts of the SEC and the state police for the smooth conduct of the polls. "BJP leaders like Dilip Ghosh, Arjun Singh loitered here and there in and around the polling booths in an attempt to instigate the voters. Voting was conducted in 2,276 wards spread across 11,280 booths. If we assume that the allegations of the Opposition are true then it will be associated with only 0.3 per cent of the polling booths," Trinamool Congress state general secretary Kunal Ghosh said.
The BJP, however, alleged false voting and violence across the state and demanded repoll in all the municipalities before the SEC. They also called a 12-hour bandh in Bengal on Monday in protest. However, the state government has stated that all schools, colleges, business centres, offices will remain open and buses will remain on the street. The Trinamool Congress has said that the party would oppose the bandh.
Meanwhile, Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar summoned state Election Commissioner Sourav Das to brief him regarding the election.
"State Election Commissioner Shri Saurab Das has been called upon to brief Guv anytime before 10 am tomorrow in view of alarmingly disturbing inputs, depicting scenario of violence and lawlessness, with administration in partisan mode and systemic failure #SEC," tweeted the Governor.
Congress alleged booth capturing on the part of TMC at Dalkhola in North Dinajpur. However, the latter rubbished such allegations.
A total of 44,000 police personnel were deployed for the civic polls, with at least one armed law enforcer in every booth.
In all, 135 observers, including 10 special senior observers and 108 general observers, are keeping a close watch on the polling. Around 95.6 lakh voters are eligible to exercise their franchise to decide the fate of 8,160 candidates.