History repeated itself with greater ferocity in Sunday’s elections to Asansol, Bidhannagar and Bally municipal corporations even as the ruling Trinamool Congress-backed goons captured booths after booths, shot at voters, hurled bombs and even mugged journalists, many of them brutally, for shooting their “action replay” of the earlier elections.
All this while, police looked the other way and the State Election Commissioner, Sushanta Ranjan Upadhyaya, too did a perfect encore of his previous performance feigning ignorance of any violence.
At least 25 people, including 17 journalists, were grievously hurt and several vehicles were put on fire when alleged TMC-backed goons poured in from all sides literally encircling the elite Bidhannagar-Rajarhat Corporation area before taking most of the booths under their control driving away the voters.
In an unprecedented assault on the democracy, the media were attacked as they tried to shoot the booths under siege. Some got bloody nose, some broken hands and others were admitted to hospitals with head injuries sources said.
Such was the ferocity of the attacks that by the sundown, the left and the BJP were staging dharnas at the SEC demanding a re-poll in all the booths.
At least seven bikes were torched near Koikhali in northern parts of Kolkata when the Congress and the Trinamool workers clashed, two persons received bullet injuries at Bidhannagar and many including elderly citizens were beaten up by alleged Trinamool men.
Senior Trinamool politicians, including Minister Sujit Basu, MlAs Arjun Singh and Paresh Pal, were present at Bidhannagar when attacks took place, sources alleged, saying police personnel were verbally instructed to move away before the attacks were mounted on the media.
At Asansol, from where BJP leader and Union Minister Babul Supriyo had won the parliamentary polls, three voters were shot at by the Trinamool men even as booths were captured at Jamuria, Kulti and Ranijganj.
However, polling for Siliguri sub-divisional board was comparatively peaceful, sources said. About 87 per cent polling was recorded till reports last came in.
“We have never seen such violence, not even in the seventies,” said Biman Bose, left Front chairman, while BJP’s Rahul Sinha demanding repolling, said “elections have been rendered into a farce.” PCC president Adhir Chowdhury also demanded fresh polls, adding “the ECI must be keeping a watch on the rampant violence in this civic poll and the earlier ones. If preparations are not taken then 2016 Assembly elections will be no better than this.”