Bengal: Stones thrown at Dilip Ghosh's car in Burdwan as sporadic incidents of violence mark 4th phase of LS polls

Even though poll officials claimed that voting has been largely peaceful, different political parties have filed about 1,088 complaints of alleged EVM malfunction and agents stopped from entering booths.

Workers of the ruling Trinamool Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) clashed in some areas of the Bardhaman-Durgapur Lok Sabha constituency.

In Kalna Gate, BJP candidate Dilip Ghosh faced a protest on his way to a poll booth after receiving some complaints. Trinamool supporters blocked his way and staged a protest, raising 'go back' slogans.

Stones were also thrown at his convoy, and some cars were damaged, local TV channels showed.

Visuals captured by local television showed paramilitary personnel trying to keep the crowd under control.

Soon after, a group of people threw stones at Ghosh's car. A security personnel was injured in the head and somehow managed to hop into NDTV's vehicle, blood oozing from his wound. A stone hit the NDTV cameraperson on his leg.

However, the unruly scenes were a far cry from a show of bonhomie between Ghosh and his main opponent, Trinamool's Kirti Azad, earlier in the day. The two leaders hugged each other during a visit to a poll booth, a rare sight in an election marked by sharp barbs exchanged by leaders of the ruling Trinamool and the BJP, its main challenger.

Earlier in the day, Ghosh told the media that "goons of TMC" were preventing polling agents from entering booths.

"When I went to villages, women asked me with folded hands if they would be able to vote or not. It is their (Trinamool) habit to threaten people. The goons of TMC are not letting the polling agents enter the booths, including the presiding officer. Last night, they threatened people in certain areas and asked them not to come out to vote. I hope the situation will improve and voting will be done smoothly," he told local TV channels.

Clashes were also reported in Birbhum and Krishnanagar constituencies, where BJP workers clashed with Trinamool supporters.

BJP candidate Amrita Roy, who is pitted against Trinamool's firebrand leaer Mahua Moitra in Krishnanagar, accompanied two injured supporters to the police station.

In the constituency's Tehatta area, a CPM worker was injured in a scuffle with Trinamool supporters over being present in a polling booth. In some areas of Birbhum, Trinamool workers held protests, accusing central forces of intimidating voters.