New Delhi: Bhowanipur constituency witnesses high-voltage drama as chief minister Mamata Banerjee and her main rival Suvendu Adhikari landed in the same polling station area at the same time and swiped each other’s cards without any direct interaction.As the second phase of voting began in West Bengal on Wednesday, Banerjee and Adhikari traded accusations but did not have any direct interaction.
Banerjee broke the convention of afternoon voting this time and landed before 8 a.m., marking the political stakes in the constituency and the larger battle in South Bengal.Although the two rivals did not come face to face or exchange courtesies, they were briefly seen in the same area in ChakraBiriya ward No. 70, where Banerjee sat outside a local party office following complaints about alleged intimidation by the local TMC leader.When Adhikari arrived accompanied by a large crowd of Central Force personnel, Banerjee was still on the balcony of the party office and launched an attack on the chief minister, claiming that she realized “not a single vote” would be cast on her.Banerjee accuses ‘election fraud’, Adhikari rejects accusationBanerjee accused the BJP of trying to rig the election by using central forces, police observers and election officials.“BJP wants to rig this election. Elections in West Bengal are usually peaceful. Are they? gundaraj here? ” said the Bengal CM.“Several observers came from outside and were acting on the instructions of the BJP. They were going to police stations to create pressure. They called for the arrest of all TMC agents. Our party’s youth president was arrested this morning and was later released,” she claimed.Meanwhile, Adhikari refuted the chief minister’s claims, calling it a show of “frustration” and said Banerjee was “scared” as the state police no longer controlled the voting process.“Mamata is scared. Her police force has been replaced by central forces, that’s why she is scared. The EC has deployed CAPF here, so if she has any problem, she should contact them. Why are 40-50 people coming with her?” Adhikari said.Adhikari also accused the TMC chief of walking around with “50-60 goons” despite the ban under Section 163 being in force.“Banerjee is the candidate. Of course she can visit the stalls. But why is this ‘goodagardi’ (hooliganism) happening? I have complained to the Kolkata DEO. No one will be allowed to intimidate this time. ” he said.“These people are not voters, they are outsiders”Later in the day, Adhikari also claimed that TMC supporters surrounded him and tried to attack him when he visited a polling station. According to him, the incident took place when he reached the polling station when a group of TMC supporters raising slogans of “Jai Bengal” allegedly surrounded him.“I’m visiting the booth”The situation on the ground escalated, prompting the intervention of security personnel deployed at the scene. Central forces allegedly resorted to Rakhi charges to disperse the crowd and control the situation.Voting started at 7 am across key districts of Kolkata, Howrah, Hooghly, Nadia and North and South 24 Parganas, with voters queuing up early at several polling stations. More than 320 million voters are eligible to vote, and 41,001 polling stations are subject to strict security and network broadcast monitoring.Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called on voters to turn out to vote, especially urging women and young people to participate and strengthen democracy.This phase is considered decisive, covering the TMC’s traditional stronghold in South Bengal, where the group had dominated in 2021. For the BJP, progress here remains crucial to mount a serious challenge. Results will be announced on May 4.
