The final phase of polling in West Bengal on June 1 began with reports of violence from the South 24 Parganas district, where a local mob threw VVPAT machines into a pond.
According to the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of West Bengal, at 6.40 a.m. today, reserve Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) and papers were thrown into a pond as a local mob looted the polling premises.
The CEO added that since the sector Police was only a little far away, the situation was brought under control. “FIR has been lodged by Sector Officer and necessary action has been initiated. Poll process in all six booths under the Sector is running uninterrupted. Fresh EVM and papers have been provided to the Sector Officer,” the statement added.
BJP leader Amit Malviya criticised the incident and said that the democracy is up in flames in West Bengal. “Democracy is up in flames in West Bengal. Bombs have been hurled in Jadavpur’s Bhangar, irate villagers in Joynagar’s Kulti have thrown an EVM and VVPAT machine in a pond because TMC goons won’t let them vote,” he posted on Twitter.
Voting began at 7 am in West Bengal’s nine seats including — Barasat, Basirhat, Diamond Harbour, Dum Dum, Jaynagar, Jadavpur, Kolkata Dakshin, Kolkata Uttar, and Mathurapur.
This incident has raised concerns about the safety and security of the polling process in West Bengal, which has witnessed several instances of violence during the ongoing election campaign.
