Bombs and chilli powder attack mar South Kolkata polling – Times of India

KOLKATA: The city witnessed sporadic violence during the fourth phase of polling on Saturday with most of the allegations coming in from Kasba and Jadavpur constituencies, including charges of bombing, threats and assaults.
Residents of the Rose Valley Apartments at Kustia in Tiljala said they were left speechless after two bombs were lobbed on the rear side of the complex around 1.30 pm, minutes before a few residents were to assemble together to cast their votes at the primary health centre. Sixty four families live in the housing complex.
TOI found blast marks at two sites when it visited the spot. Remnants of countrymade bombs were found lying scattered near the parked vehicles within the complex. The impact was such that soot and dust from the building had fallen on the cars below. “Kids play here on any other day. Today being an election day, we had asked them to stay inside. We do not even know what would have happened if they were playing here. There are tall buildings surrounding the rear portion of this complex. We suspect that someone threw the bombs from atop one of the surrounding buildings to an area where there could be the maximum noise,” said Sharad Agarwal, a resident.
The police surrounded the entire area minutes after the news spread. A strong police posting was made at the complex. Officers — led by joint CPs and DCPs — made several appeals to residents to remain calm. An hour later, cops provided cover and led voters to the local booth. None of the other residents, though, agreed to speak. “The police and the media are here today. No one knows what is in store for us tomorrow,” said one of them.
At a booth near Jadavpur, two elderly women — one a polling agent of the CPM candidate from Jadavpur and the other an independent candidate’s poll agent — stood their ground despite being allegedly attacked with chilli powder by a false voter. Dipti Lahiri (71), the CPM polling agent, and Sunanda Das (64), the agent of independent candidate Atanu Chatterjee, had to receive medical aid in their eyes. But, they refused to leave the Roypur Primary School where they were on duty.
“It was around 9.30 am that one Tulika Kumar came to the booth and sought to cast her vote on a false identity. I stopped her from casting the vote and Sunanda, too, joined me. Sometime later, when the BJP agent agreed to our objection, the polling officer asked her to leave. Suddenly, she pulled out a folded paper, which I initially thought was a voter slip, and threw the powder at us,” recalled Dipti. Later, CPM candidate Sujan Chakraborty visited the booth.
Allegations of violence also came from Shahid Smriti Colony where BJP alleged that their agent was assaulted and asked not to sit inside the booth. The huge police force posted at the spot denied the charges. Similar charges of assault on two BJP workers were made by BJP’s Jadavpur candidate Rinku Naskar at the Kendua area.
At Kasba, the BJP alleged that the TMC workers had targeted specific apartments in the Kantapukur area and snatched voter ID cards. “They had threatened some people on Friday. At least two women agents were not allowed to sit at the polling booth. Booth number 60 in Ward 66 was one area where I had an altercation with even central forces to ensure that my polling agent could sit at the booth,” said Indranil Khan, the BJP candidate from Kasba. The Trinamool, though, denied the charge.