With open street-clashes reported from various wards of the city, a very tense situation prevailed in Kolkata barely hours ahead of the Saturday’s Corporation elections.
Several people were injured at various places from Shalimar Railway Yard in Howrah to Kashipur in North Kolkata to Santoshpur and Behala-Thakurpukur in South Kolkata after alleged gangs of Trinamool Congress-backed goons fought among themselves or attacked the Opposition parties.
Seven trucks and a vehicle were set on fire at Shalimar after armed men owning allegiance to two local TMC leaders clashed with each other. In the second such instance, rival Trinamool gangs fought at Kashipur in North Kolkata injuring a number of people, sources alleged.
“The clash is the result of a fight for area domination between the two groups backed by two Ministers,” a local Trinamool supporter said.
Down South CPI(M) supporters staged a road blockade at Santoshpur, Bagha Jatin after Trinamool goons ransacked local shops and threatened voters against going to vote on Saturday. Violence took place at wards number 109, 135, 101, 102, 124 etc police said. At Thakurpukur BJP workers were attacked by the Trinamool men.
On Saturday 144 wards in KMC area would go to vote in the first of civic elections deemed as “semi-finals” before the next year’s Assembly polls. The next round would take place on May 25 when elections for 91 civic boards including the Siliguri Municipal Corporation would take place. About 40 percent of the total electorate would cast their vote in the municipal elections which were being held with almost no presence of central forces.
Only three companies of central forces have been deployed before the polls and they would be used as mobile contingents, SEC has said.
“There is no semblance of law and order ahead of the elections. Though the Central forces serve no purpose for they are used by the State administration as we saw in the general elections but their presence give some psychological incentive to the voters to come out and vote. Here such incentive is zero and we will have to activate our cadres to resist hooliganism of the Trinamool Congress,” former CPI(M) MP Sujan Chakrabarty said.
Earlier SEC SR Upadhaya had rued that though he had demanded 50 companies of central forces, only three companies had come. According to sources, more than 80 cases of violence had been reported in the past a few days in Kolkata only and about 150 such cases had been reported in the other municipal areas.