BJP candidates roughed up, office and residence attacked in Mamata Banerjee's West Bengal

KOLKATA: Amid high-decibel campaigning in West Bengal, several BJP candidates contesting the 2019 Lok Sabha election across the state have been allegedly targeted by the workers and supporters of the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) party.

According to reports, BJP's candidate from the Dum Dum Lok Sabha constituency Samik Bhattacharya was attacked and his central election working office was allegedly ransacked by the TMC workers.

Meanwhile, Chandi Charan Rai, the general secretary, BJP Kolkata North Suburban District was allegedly beaten up by miscreants. 

 

Charan was so badly beaten up that he was immediately rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment.  

West Bengal: Office of BJP Lok Sabha candidate from Dum Dum, Samik Bhattacharya, was ransacked. BJP members were attacked, a leader Chandi Charan Rai has been admitted to hospital. More details awaited pic.twitter.com/GdO192fmHL — ANI (@ANI) 19 April 2019

In a similar incident, BJP's Hooghly candidate Locket Chatterjee's rented house in Bandel was ransacked by some miscreants on Friday morning, news agency ANI reported.

Kolkata: BJP's Hooghly candidate Locket Chatterjee's rented house in Bandel was ransacked by miscreants today morning; BJP blames TMC workers for the incident. #WestBengal pic.twitter.com/Mfaxl4GTQx — ANI (@ANI) 19 April 2019

The BJP, which is trying to make inroads in the Mamata Banerjee-ruled state, has blamed the TMC workers for the recent attack on its candidates and workers.

Claiming the attack on its workers and candidates a handiwork of the ruling TMC, the BJP has threatened to file a complaint in this regard and demanded strict action the culprits.

During the second phase of 2019 Lok Sabha polls, violence was reported from several areas across West Bengal.

In Raiganj, the car of a CPI(M) candidate Md Salim was attacked when he went to a polling booth at Islampur in Uttar Dinajpur.

The ruling Trinamool Congress has denied the allegations of attack on BJP or CPM candidates and called it a tactic to defame the ruling party.

In view of reported clashes between the TMC and BJP workers, the Election Commission had deployed 194 companies of central forces to cover 80 per cent of the over 5,000 booths in the three Lok Sabha seats where polling was held in the second phase on April 18.