West Bengal civic polls: BJP calls for 12-hour bandh to protest against 'rigging and violence'

Speaking to reporters, BJP spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said the shutdown will be observed from 6am to 6pm.

“What happened today was not polling but a mockery of democracy," he said.

"West Bengal will not see democratic way of holding polls until TMC remains in power here," he said.

He said TMC members were even seen attacking their own party members in several places.

An estimated 77 per cent of voters exercised their democratic rights till 1700 hours amidst high security polling on Sunday for 108 municipalities in 20 districts across West Bengal, election officials said.

Midnapore recorded the highest turnout of 84 per cent, while Darjeeling registered the lowest 54 per cent polling.

The polling was overall peaceful since it began at 7 am, though there were reports of some stray incidents, official sources told UNI.

Tension ran high in parts of West Bengal as one BJP candidate was arrested for allegedly vandalising the Electronic Voting Machine.

The BJP candidate was arrested at Mandir Ghanta Primary School in Ward No. 4 of Basirhat in North 24 Parganas district, following allegations that he broke the EVM during a violent clash in the booth.

The Trinamool alleged that outsiders entered the booth during the voting and indulged in violence.

The BJP claimed the allegations were "cooked up".

In North 24 Parganas district, Trinamool Congress and BJP workers squabbled over allegations about attempts to occupy booths with outsiders at the Ganesh Primary School, Jagddal.

After protests erupted, BJP leader and MP Arjun Singh went to the spot. The BJP alleged that the son of a Trinamool candidate lined up "fake voters".

The son of the BJP candidate tried to remove them, resulting in heated exchanges between the two sides.

Arjun Singh's relative Sanjay Singh was arrested for threatening to vandalize EVM.

Tensions ran high in the railway town of Khargpur over alleged EVM vandalism as well as bombing after entering the booth during the polls.

People from the area gathered and started protesting.

Later a huge police force led by SDPO came to the spot.

Alleged beating of the Congress candidate in Booth No. 26 of Behrampur Municipality was reported.

Upon receiving the news, Adhir Chowdhury rushed to the booth of Congress candidate Gayatri Chowdhury.

Outsiders and bike forces are roaming in different wards of Rajpur Sonarpur Municipality including 3,14,15,16,17,22,28,28,31,35.

 CPI (M) leader Sujan Chakraborty has alleged that forces have taken over the entire Jayanagar municipality area.

The CPM candidate was accused of beating the Trinamool candidate to the ground in Ward No. 11 of Shantipur Municipality.

Trinamool candidate Snigdha Mukherjee told UNI, "The CPIM candidate and his party have been threatening for a long time."

At Titagarh, the CPI-M alleged that its candidate Arun Singh was beaten up when he went to a polling station on receiving reports of booth jamming by outsiders.

The Trinamool, however, denied the accusations.

At North Barrackpore, tension erupted over the alleged occupation of the booth at Souhardya Milon Kendra.

The CPI-M alleged that its agents were not allowed inside the Motijheel Girls' High School booth in Ward 22 of South Dumdum Municipality.

The Trinamool dubbed the allegation "baseless".

In northern West Bengal's Malda district, Trinamool was accused of rigging the polls at the Vivekananda Vidyamandir booth.

In Jalpaiguri district's Mainaguri, the opposition party workers accused the Trinamool of jamming the booth of Petkathi Primary School.

In Hooghly district, the CPI-M nominee Sushil Baury alleged that he was beaten up by Trinamool-backed miscreants, while in Jalpaiguri the Congress accused the police of manhandling its candidate from ward 17 Narayan Chandra Sarkar.

Meanwhile, a Raj Bhawan tweeted, " 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. "