West Bengal panchayat polls: Booths in south 24 Paraganas allegedly captured by TMC activists; protesters block roads

“We are patrolling with forces. We have detained a couple of people. The situation is under control so the voters can continue to vote and have nothing to fear,” said Additional SP Baruipur Sandeep Mondal. The police, however, blocked all roads to Uttar Ghazipur.

The JJPOBC also blocked all approach roads to Machibhanga, Natunhati and Ghazipur. “We’ve done this so that the TMC goons cannot enter our area, because they have been entering and attacking us,” said a committee member who had been guarding an entrance.

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Police blocking the way to Ghazipur where the booths have allegedly been captured (Express photo by Shubham Dutta)

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Meanwhile, the JJPOBC has alleged that three of their members including one of their nine candidates – Imtiazul Khan (20) have been “kidnapped by Arabul’s men this morning.”

“Imtiazul has gone missing since this morning. His father has informed the police but there has been no trace of him so far. Two other members Rabiul Mollah and Miraz Mollah have also gone missing. They had come to Natunhati Bazaar in the morning today when we have been told they have been picked up by Arabul’s men. The only work that the West Bengal police is doing is guarding the booths so that the TMC can capture them. Another one of our committee members, Ahadali Mollah was beaten up when he went to vote in the morning. Some 20 odd TMC goons attacked him at the booth. He has sustained severe head injuries and has been admitted to RG Kar hospital,”said Hassan Mirza, spokesperson JJPOBC.

Imtiazul’s elder brother, Mofizul Khan (26), was one of the two who died in violent protests on January 17th, 2017. He allegedly died in police firing. Mirza, along with dozens of other villagers now stand at Natunhati which separates Uttar Ghazipur from Machibhanga- ghazipur is dominated by Arabul Islam while Machibhanga is controlled by The JJPOBC.

Both TMC and JJPOBC activists started pelting stones at each other (Express photo by Partha Paul)

Trouble first surfaced in Bhangar when villagers across 16 villages protested the setting up of a power plant by PGCIL. There have been two deaths in the violent agitations of January when the villagers clashed with the police. The two victims allegedly died in police fire.

On Friday evening, another 28 year old agitator Hafizul Mollah does after being shot in the face allegedly by Tmc men, during clashes between the Tmc and villagers. The villagers were carrying out a campaign rally for their candidates at the time. While the JJPOBC were to field 19 candidates for the Panchayat polls, they were unable to do so because of “Tmc attacks and brutalities”. They finally fielded nine candidates after the intervention of the Calcutta High court. The State election commission accepted all these nominations on WhatsApp.