Kolkata: Campaigning for the eight Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal that will go to the polls in the sixth phase on May 25 concluded on Thursday amid reports of pre-poll violence in Nandigram under the Tamluk parliamentary constituency.
The violence erupted there after a woman BJP worker, Rotibala Ari, was killed and seven other party workers were injured following an attack by unknown assailants allegedly having links with the ruling Trinamool Congress.
The incident triggered widespread protests in Nandigram by the local people, who blocked roads and burnt tyres. Several shops were also set on fire in the area, prompting the police to resort to lathi charge to bring the situation under control.
The eight Lok Sabha seats where polling will be held on Saturday include Bankura, Bishnipur, Purulia, Kanti, Tamluk, Medinipur, Ghatal, and Jhargram.
On the last day of campaigning on Thursday, the leader of opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, called Trinamool’s sitting MP who has been renominated from Ghatal, actor-politician Deepak Adhikari a.k.a. Dev, a beneficiary of the alleged cattle smuggling scam in the state.
Dev later countered the charge and warned Adhikari not to take his courtesy towards the opposition as his weakness.
Barring a roadshow and an election meeting by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata, there were no high-profile campaign events scheduled in Bengal on Thursday.
(IANS)
