High voter turnout and sporadic incidents of violence marked the fifth phase of elections in West Bengal on April 17. Polling was held in 45 Assembly seats across six districts — three in north Bengal and three in the south. Till 5 p.m., 78.36% electors had exercised their franchise. Highest voting (81.73%) was observed in Jalpiaguri, followed by Purba Bardhaman (81.72%) and Nadia (81.57%). The voting percentage is expected to rise.
While local residents alleged that there was firing at Deganga Assembly segment in North 24 Parganas by central armed police forces, a report by the Superintendent of Police, Barasat stated the allegation was not based on any facts.
West Bengal elections phase 5 updates | April 17, 2021
“The Elections were peaceful today a few incidents were reported,” Chief Electoral Officer Aariz Aftab said. The CEO said that 23 persons were arrested in specific incidents during the day and 100 were arrested as part of preventive arrested.
At Ranaghat in Nadia, independent candidate Kaushik Bhowmick was arrested after a firearm was recovered from him. Violence was reported at Santipur police station area in Nadia when miscreants lobbed crude bombs on a person, who suffered injuries, and was admitted to a hospital. At Gayeshpur in Nadia, the house of the BJP supporter was damaged. Supporters of Trinamool Congress broke the door of the BJP supporter with sticks , barged into and ransacked his house. The CEO said that senior police officers are in Gayeshpur, and police will be stationed in the area.
Other than Nadia where eight Assembly seats went to polls, violence between supporters of two groups of people were reported in North 24 Parganas where 16 Assembly seats went to polls. Biddhanagar and Baranagar, two constituencies bordering Kolkata, witnessed violent scenes when supporters of Trinamool and BJP clashed.
The supporters of each political group hurled bricks and stones towards each other in Shantinagar area of Bidhannagar Assembly constituency. The supporters of Trinamool and BJP came face to face and exchanged blows. A huge contingent of central forces had to be rushed in to control the situation.
Tension prevailed in the area for hours and candidates of both parties visited the area. In Baranagar seat, BJP candidate and actor Parno Mitra was allegedly gheraoed by Trinamool activists while she was touring the constituency. Later in the day, the Trinamool supporters alleged that central forces personnel used force against them. In the adjoining Kamarhati constituency, BJP candidate Raju Banerjee alleged that he was attacked by Trinamool supporters at the behest of party candidate Madan Mitra.
In the fifth phase of elections, the ECI deployed 1,071 company of central forces, the highest deployment so far. Despite the unprecedented deployment of forces, voters and polling agents saying that they are being threatened were not completely absent. At Minakha in North 24 Parganas, family members of a polling agent alleged that the agent was abducted. There were reports of scuffle in Bardhaman including at Monteshwar where the Trinamool candidate Siddiqulah Chowdhury alleged that central forces used force against party supporters. Polling was peaceful in north Bengal where elections were held in 13 seats in Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Jalpiaguri.
Record spike of COVID cases
The polling was held on a day when the State registered a record 7,713 new COVID-19 infections in the past 24 hours. The number of deaths also increased significantly in the past 24 hours with 34 people succumbing to the viral infection. The Election Commission has barred political parties from campaigning from 7 p.m. to 10 a.m. and extended the silence period from 48 hours to 72 hours in each of the remaining three phases of polls. On April 16, the State recorded 6,910 new cases with 26 deaths.