‘Forced to wear garland of shoes’, BJP BLA allegedly assaulted by TMC workers in North Bengal

Das alleged that he was attacked when he went to meet a Booth Level Officer (BLO) conducting the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. Speaking to the media, he said, “I had called the BLO, and he informed me that he was in one of the residences. By the time I reached there, they had gone to another location. When I went there, I saw enumeration forms being given. I started to write, then one of the local TMC leaders came and started slapping and pushing me. After that, they put a garland around my neck.”

According to BJP sources, a formal complaint has been lodged with the Election Commission of India (ECI) demanding action. BJP leader Manoj Ghosh alleged that the attack was part of an orchestrated attempt by TMC workers to intimidate BJP’s ground-level agents. “Yesterday, one of our BLA-2s was driven out of Fakirer Kuti, and today, Nibas Das was beaten and garlanded with shoes. The Trinamool Congress is doing this because they are scared that due to the SIR, their vote bank will be gone,” he said.

The TMC, however, denied the allegations. Ukil Barman, a local TMC leader, said, “No such incident has occurred. The allegations are completely false. No one from the TMC is involved in this. This is a conspiracy against us. The BJP worker has done it himself just to get publicity.”

This incident adds to a growing list of allegations of assault and intimidation reported since the second day of the SIR exercise in Bengal. In North 24 Parganas’ Hingalganj, BJP’s Ranjit Mallick alleged that he was attacked by TMC workers while accompanying a BLO. In Hooghly’s Khanakul, BJP alleged that local TMC leaders accompanied BLOs carrying party flags during form distribution. Meanwhile, in Berhampur, BJP MLA Subrata Maitra was accused of accompanying a BLO during the voter survey.