Since Sunday, at least six of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Bengal wing’s staff have been killed across the district, according to the party’s Bengal wing. They also said that as the counting continued and the patterns became apparent, a few hundred party offices and homes of BJP members were ransacked across the province.
Late Monday, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) requested a report from the West Bengal government on post-election violence in the state that targeted opposition political workers.
A gang of men armed with bamboo sticks and rods was seen invading houses in search of BJP staff in a video that went viral on Twitter. Later, a series of photos and videos circulated on Twitter, implying that BJP staff in Bengal had been harassed and assaulted.
Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar summoned the DGP on Monday, demanding a briefing on the state’s unbroken violence after the election results were announced.
After the poll results showed that Mamata Banerjee’s camp was likely to retain power in Bengal, the BJP said that one of its party offices in Hooghly district was set on fire and that some of its leaders, including Suvendu Adhikari, were harassed by TMC activists in other parts of the state.
A senior police officer in Hooghly said that he is investigating the matter and that those who are responsible will be disciplined.
TMC protestors set fire to the saffron camp’s Arambagh office, according to a local BJP official, shortly after their party’s candidate Sujata Mondal was defeated.
“The TMC, in a bid to avenge the defeat of its candidate, indulged in acts of arson and torched our party office,” the local BJP leader said.
TMC men allegedly demonstrated next to the vehicle of BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari in Purba Medinipur district, where he defeated Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in a neck-and-neck race for the coveted Nandigram seat.
Members of the saffron party alleged that some protesters smashed the windscreen of Adhikari’s car and threw stones near a counting center in Haldia.
Members of the saffron party alleged that some protesters smashed the windscreen of Adhikari’s car and threw stones near a counting center in Haldia.
He is a traitor. He took to unfair means to change the results,” a TMC dissident was heard saying.
Following heated arguments over election results in the Barasat district of North 24 Parganas, supporters of the two parties came to blows, according to police reports.
The BJP also alleged that TMC activists seriously abused one of its members in the city’s Beleghata neighborhood, a claim refuted by Mamata Banerjee’s camp.
