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Ex-NDTV CEO Vikram Chandra poses with a Modi lookalike in Varanasi, gets roasted

OpIndia Staff
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Ex-NDTV CEO Vikram Chandra poses with a Modi lookalike in Varanasi, gets roasted

Celebrity journalist Vikram Chandra is in Varanasi in the peak of the election season. Prime Minister Modi recently filed his nomination from Varanasi from where he won the 2014 elections. And while he has been giving interviews to a few journalists, many have found themselves making do with the duplicate. Chandra posted a picture on Twitter with a Modi lookalike from Varanasi.


Twitterati, however, did not let go of this chance to roast Chandra.


Adibas and Reebuk are often misspelt names of brands Adidas and Reebok on fake merchandise.


One user had no chill.


Literally.


Chandra quit propaganda and fake news channel NDTV in 2016 to set up ‘Editorji’.

And few couldn’t stop themselves from taking a dig at how Modi never bothered giving interviews to some journalists.


Earlier, Congress President Rahul Gandhi and Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani were also caught posing with a Modi lookalike.

BJP MP sends Rahul Gandhi a legal notice over his lie that ‘Modi govt passed law allowing shooting down of Adivasis’

OpIndia Staff
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BJP MP sends Rahul Gandhi a legal notice over his lie that ‘Modi govt passed law allowing shooting down of Adivasis’

Congress president Rahul Gandhi may land in a soup as the BJP is mulling filing a defamation suit against the Gandhi scion for his libellous remarks claiming that Narendra Modi has legislated a law allowing ‘shooting down’ of Tribals. BJP vice-president Prabhat Jha has sent a legal notice to Rahul Gandhi for his defamatory statements against PM Modi.


The outrageous lie was peddled by Rahul Gandhi during an election rally in Madhya Pradesh’s Shabdol a few days back. Rahul Gandhi in the rally said, “Narendra Modi Sarkar ne ek kanun banaya hai jisme ek line likhi gayi hai ki adivasiyon ko goli se mara ja sakega” (Narendra Modi has passed a law in which a provision has been added that allows shooting down of Tribals).

Rahul Gandhi was referring to the draft of the Indian Forest Act, 2019, which intends to overhaul the Indian Forest Act, 1927. The draft law recommends providing compensation to forest officers using arms to prevent transgressions. Apart from this, Section 197 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, also provides immunity for certain categories of public servants.

Interestingly, the same language that was used by Rahul Gandhi is often used by Naxals to brainwash tribals into picking up the weapon. The Naxals often tell Tribals that the government is going to kill them and snatch their ‘Jal, Jungle, Zameen’ away.

Slamming Rahul Gandhi, Jha said, “Congress had 44 MPs in the parliament. Even if we suppose that the law was passed, where were they when the law was being passed in the parliament.” Jha also contended that even Rahul Gandhi is a parliamentarian and if such law had been passed in his presence, why he kept mum until the election season. Jha said that BJP has given three days to Rahul Gandhi to respond, failing which a defamation suit will be filed against him.

The BJP in its legal notice has warned the Congress president that his comments on Narendra Modi are “defamatory, derogatory, lacking verification and without any substance.” The notice further stated that it is the constitutional duty of every parliamentarian including Rahul Gandhi to frame the laws of the country in the interest of citizens of India.

After India and Bangladesh’ crackdown, Sri Lankan cable operators block Islamist preacher Zakir Naik’s Peace TV

OpIndia Staff
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After India and Bangladesh’ crackdown, Sri Lankan cable operators block Islamist preacher Zakir Naik’s Peace TV

Days after the Easter Sunday bomb attack in Sri Lanka, the cable operators of the island country have blocked radical Islamic preacher Zakir Naik’s Peace TV, according to reports.


As per reports, two of the largest cable operators of Sri Lanka, Dialogue and LT, had stopped airing Zakir Naik’s Peace TV. However, an official announcement regarding the development is yet to be made.

Earlier, Sri Lanka had also passed an order to ban all forms of face covering including the Islamic Burqa.

After UK and Canada, India and Bangladesh had also banned Peace TV which has often been used by ISIS recruiters for indoctrination and brainwashing. For inciting religious intolerance and violent extremism, Naik’s talks and speeches had been declared ‘highly objectionable’ by the Government of India.

In the latest, after the ISIS suspect Riyas Aboobacker alias Abu Dujana admitted that he had been following speeches and videos of Zakir Naik, Sri Lanka too has decided to follow suit.

The NIA had on Monday arrested a man in Kerala as a part of the probe following the Easter Sunday blast in Sri Lanka. The arrested terrorist, Riyaz Aboobacker, alias Abu Dujana, 28, of Kollengode, Palakkad, during his interrogation, revealed that he was planning to conduct a suicide bomb blast in Kerala, similar to the Sri Lankan blast.

An official statement by NIA said that the accused admitted of following speeches and videos of Zahran Hashim, the mastermind behind the Sri Lankan blast, for more than a year and had also followed the speeches of Zakir Naik, the radical Islamist preacher.

Meanwhile, the controversial Islamic preacher, Naik is being probed by Indian agencies since 2016 after the Centre banned his Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) organisation for five years.

Fearing arrest, Zakir Naik, the radical Islamist preacher against whom Interpol is likely to issue a red corner notice on India’s request, is currently holed up in Malaysia, since he fled India on 1 July 2016 after an investigation against him was initiated under the provisions of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.

Naik is being investigated for suspected links with terror organisations and money laundering. NIA which has been in relentless pursuit had in December 2017 had planned on moving a request for his provisional arrest. Apart from this the NIA also made a fresh plea with Interpol for the issuance of a red corner notice (RCN) against him.

Meanwhile, in order to oppose this, Naik has alleged that the case against him was related to the religious persecution of minorities in India. He also reportedly played the victim by claiming that Indian agencies were unfairly targeting him because he is a Muslim.

Moreover, the NIA had managed to revoke Zakir Naik’s passport. At the beginning of the year, the Enforcement Directorate had reportedly attached his properties worth Rs.16.40 crore in Mumbai and Pune. Earlier in October 2018, the NIA court had ordered the attachment of five properties belonging to Naik in Mumbai’s Mazgaon area.

Naik, who’ links with the Congress had also emerged, has been notorious in spreading hatred between religious groups and for inciting Muslim youth to join in the jihad against non-believers of Islam. He used to use his NGO ‘Islamic Research Foundation’ (IRF) and a TV channel (Peace TV) to air his hate speeches in the country.

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra admits that Congress has put up candidates to ‘cut votes’ of BJP in Uttar Pradesh

OpIndia Staff
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Priyanka Gandhi Vadra admits that Congress has put up candidates to ‘cut votes’ of BJP in Uttar Pradesh

While talking to the media, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra seems to have given away a ‘carefully guarded secret’ this election season. She seems to have invariably admitted that the Congress and BSP, SP alliance has a tacit understanding on the ground that the political sparring is a mere ploy to fool the voters.


Priyanka Gandhi, talking to media set that BJP will suffer a ‘huge setback’ in Uttar Pradesh and that they will lose badly. She said that in those seats where Congress is strong, Congress will win, and in others where Congress is weak, the candidates have been selected to ensure that they ‘cut votes’ of BJP.

In the 2019 elections, thee are essentially only two national parties that are in the election mix – BJP and Congress. While the BJP has banked its hopes on PM Modi and is attempting to get a majority on its own, Congress is now reducing itself to a mere “vote cutter” playing second fiddle to regional parties. The state of the Congress is such that they have even agreed to play second fiddle to a regional party like BSP that has zero MPs in the parliament.

However, there is a larger implication of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s statement. In her statement to the media, she admitted that where Congress’ position is weak in Uttar Pradesh, the party has fielded ‘vote-cutters’. Vote cutters would be candidates that would not win but eat into the vote share of BJP thereby helping the BSP or SP candidate from that constituency.

The implication of this statement is massive. For the past few months, Congress and the SP, BSP alliance has been pretending to indulge in political sparring. Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati have made several statements against Rahul Gandhi and the Congress party trying to convince the country that Congress and the regional alliance is fighting against each other.

However, with Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s statement, it becomes evident that the public sparring was only for show and that Congress, BSP and SP do indeed have a tacit understanding to defeat BJP.

In December 2018 itself, OpIndia had theorised that the Congress, SP and BSP are indulging in shadow boxing to ensure a divide in the upper caste votes to defeat BJP.

In our 2018 report, we had written:

“For the BSP, the core vote bank is the Dalit faction. For SP the core vote banks are the Yadavs and Muslims. An alliance with Congress whose President, Rahul Gandhi has been sporting a janeu lately could have proven to be electorally catastrophic. The shadow boxing would perhaps serve several purposes. The BSP could consolidate their Dalit votes while SP could consolidate Muslim and Yadav votes. In the meantime, Congress, with its pseudo temple hopping could attempt to pander to the upper caste votes thereby splitting the BJP’s vote share”. 

This is exactly what Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s statement confirms. The shadow boxing between Congress and SP, BSP was merely a front to cutting BJP votes since none of them truly believe that either they could sweep the state independently, or come together despite being ideologically disparate and still convince voters of their ingenuity.

Congress’ Ajay Maken already accepts defeat, says without AAP alliance, Congress cannot win ‘all seven seats’ in Delhi

OpIndia Staff
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Congress’ Ajay Maken already accepts defeat, says without AAP alliance, Congress cannot win ‘all seven seats’ in Delhi

Congress leader Ajay Maken in his interview with Hindustan Times expressed that Congress will find it difficult to win seats without the Congress-AAP alliance. Maken said that had there been an alliance, they (Congress and AAP) would have won all seven seats with a margin of 2-3 lakh each, but now without any alliance, Congress will not be able to win all seven seats.

“Had there been an alliance, we would have won on all seven Delhi seats by margins of 2-3 lakh each. Now, we won’t win all seven seats and the margins will be smaller,” Maken said. He further added that while people do not have much confidence in Aam Aadmi Party candidates, “some of them have made their mark.” However, he dismissed AAP saying that Congress is in direct competition with BJP, which is a national party, and not AAP.

Maken has been quite vocal in supporting the AAP-Congress alliance in Delhi which, after a lot of deliberations between the two parties, was called off. Earlier he had expressed unwillingness to contest Lok Sabha elections in absence of an alliance with AAP. Even then he had said that without an alliance with AAP, it would be difficult to win ‘all seven’ seats in Delhi.

He had said that he would support an alliance with AAP even if he is not given a ticket to contest. Maken’s pro-alliance stance was opposed by former Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit. She had very categorically said that an alliance with AAP would be impossible to work through.

Ajay Maken is contesting the high profile New Delhi seat and is pitted against BJP’s Meenakshi Lekhi who defeated him in 2014 elections whereas AAP has fielded Brijesh Goyal. Amusingly, ground reports suggest that instead of a triangular fight on New Delhi seat, AAP seems to be transferring its votes to Congress. There are rumours that while the alliance is officially off, AAP could go easy on Congress so that there could be a chance of post-poll alliance and AAP could try and stay relevant for a few more years.

With voting already at its peak and the new government is about 20 days away, Congress seems to have already given up the fight and conceded defeat. Few days back, Congress leader and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath had put the figure of total seats Congress might win in Lok Sabha elections at 122, which is nowhere close to the halfway mark of 272.

Pakistan glorifies Burhan Wani: Imran Khan’s party leader to play the terrorist in a movie based on his life

OpIndia Staff
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Pakistan glorifies Burhan Wani: Imran Khan’s party leader to play the terrorist in a movie based on his life

Pakistan, despite playing the farce of being a victim of terror, just cannot stop glorifying terrorists and celebrating radical Islamists who kill innocents. A Pakistani legislator named Aamir Liyaqat Hussain is to play the role of Burhan Wani in a movie.

As per reports, Liyaqat, who is a member of Imran Khan’s PTI and is a Member of National Assembly from Karachi, is all set to play the role of the slain Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist.

The director of the proposed movie, Ayub Khosa, has said recently during a talk show that he wants to make a “clean, issue-based movie” on Kashmir. He also added that Kashmir’s portrayal in Bollywood movies gets international acclaim but the local movies made on Kashmir hardly get any attention.

Aamir Liyaqat Hussain has reportedly stated, “The film is about Burhan Wani and I am going to play him in the film. I don’t think I am a hero but Burhan Wani was definitely a hero.” He added that Wani was a hero of the ‘Kashmiri Nation’.

Liyaqat Hussain is a PTI legislator from Karachi. He is a popular televangelist and hosts religious TV shows. This year he is also to host the Ramazan transmissions in Pakistan’s state-owned PTV.

It is notable here that Burhan Wani was a dreaded Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist who was gunned down by Indian security forces in 2016. Wani’s death was used by scores of Kashmiri separatists and even Indian ‘liberals’ to peddle separatist narratives and had created months of unrest in the valley. Journalist Barkha Dutt had introduced Wani as the ‘son of a school headmaster’.

Pakistan had also attempted to fan the unrest in the valley by hailing Burhan Wani as a martyr. Former PM Nawaz Sharif had even addressed Wani as a ‘young leader’ in an address in the United Nations. Last year, in another brazen attempt, Pakistan had issued a series of postage stamps commemorating Wani and terrorists in Kashmir hailing them as martyrs.

India had reacted strongly to the stamp release and had proceeded to cancel a scheduled meeting between EAM Sushma Swaraj and her Pakistani counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi.

The release of stamps had added to a series of other events that had seen India suspending all bilateral talks with Pakistan. The kidnapping and murder of 3 policemen in Shopian by Pakistan aided terrorist was also one of the major reasons. Even during the inauguration of the Kartarpur corridor, India had stated that the opening of the corridor itself will not open the doors for bilateral talks and talks can only happen when Pakistan stops supporting terrorists.

It is notable here that Imran Khan is known for his tacit support to terrorist groups that work against India. Known as ‘Taliban Khan’ he had been caught fraternizing with radical and extremist Islamists.

Sri Lanka ignored Indian intel on suicide attacks as they thought it was a ‘bogey’ to create rift with Pakistan: Report

OpIndia Staff
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Sri Lanka ignored Indian intel on suicide attacks as they thought it was a ‘bogey’ to create rift with Pakistan: Report

Sri Lanka did not heed the alert from India about the possibility of Jihadist attacks as it feared India was trying to create a rift between them and Islamabad, a report in Economic Times claims.

Sri Lankan officials believed that India was trying to pit Colombo against Islamabad by proposing counter-terror operations against certain sections of the Muslim community, sources told ET. They further claimed that the island country doesn’t want to be dragged into an “India-led alliance” against Pakistan and was of the opinion that New Delhi was trying to create a bogey by floating the possibility of suicide attacks.

India had warned relevant authorities in Sri Lanka about possible suicide attacks in the country in advance on the basis of raids on ISIS modules conducted here. The NIA had procured several videos featuring Zahran Hashim, one of the nine suicide bombers involved in the blast, in the electronic devices of the seven alleged ISIS activists arrested in September last year in Coimbatore. NIA had conducted raids in several places last year in the case of an alleged plot to kill Hindu outfit leaders by ISIS-inspired terrorists. These ISIS activists were allegedly radicalised by Hashim on his visit to India.

On the basis of these videos, the Indian Authorities identified Hashim as the leader of National Thowheed Jamaath (NTJ) and led investigators to believe Hashim was planning “something big” in Sri Lanka. On the basis of this information from NIA, Indian authorities alerted their Sri Lankan counterparts on April 4 about possible attacks.

The misguided notions of Sri Lankan authorities meant that the terrorists succeeded in their objectives which resulted in the deaths of more than 300 individuals and injured hundreds more. Later, ISIS had claimed responsibility for the massacre.

Is AAP conceding to Congress’ Ajay Maken in the ‘New Delhi’ constituency? That’s what some BJP karyakartas think

Nupur J Sharma
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Is AAP conceding to Congress’ Ajay Maken in the ‘New Delhi’ constituency? That’s what some BJP karyakartas think

The alliance between Congress and Aam Admi Party has been one of the most interesting stories this election. Their on-again-off-again relationship has been a source of amusement for many and a source of frustration for the others, depending on where your political loyalties lie. The ones who support BJP have been amused by the indecisiveness and the Twitter shenanigans of Rahul Gandhi and Kejriwal, the others have been frustrated because the poll prospects Congress or AAP independently don’t look very bright.

Recently, news came in that the alliance between AAP and Congress was officially off the cards as both parties fielded their candidates for all constituencies. Ajay Maken, in an interview today also mentioned that without an alliance between the two parties, BJP might just sweep all 7 seats in Delhi.

With all of this, one would imagine that there would be a fierce competition between AAP and Congress to wrest control of the constituencies away from BJP, a party that is poised to sweep Delhi is the alliance is off.

However, is that the case?

Reports are now trickling in that at least in the New Delhi constituency that might not be entirely true. The New Delhi constituency is a high profile fight between Congress’ Ajay Maken, BJP’s Meenakshi Lekhi and AAP’s Brijesh Goyal and according to ground workers of the BJP, AAP is conceding space to Congress’ Ajay Maken almost giving him a walkover.

Rohit Virmani, a ground karyakarta of BJP has alleged that the campaign team of AAP is hardly on the ground and it seems like a tacit understanding between AAP and Congress to let Ajay Maken win by transferring all of AAP’s votes to Congress.

“Brijesh Goyal’s team is hardly campaigning. They have done a lot of drama about the alliance being off, but it seems like on the ground they have some sort of understanding. AAP is just not campaigning in the New Delhi constituency like it generally does. They are there a little bit, here and there, but hardly campaigning as they should”.

Another campaigner for BJP, Rohit Singh had a different take on the situation. He said the AAP has conceded defeat and is hoping that if they go easy on Congress, there could be a post-poll alliance that would keep AAP relevant at least for a couple of years more.

“Arvind Kejriwal has lost ground support. His naatak of calling voters up and saying that their names have been deleted from the voter list has backfired. People can see through his lies and that’s why he is going easy on Ajay Maken. He seems to be hoping that if they let Maken save face, Congress will be helpful to them and do a post-poll alliance just so he can stay relevant”.

Rajesh, another BJP worker said that just like in Uttar Pradesh, AAP and Congress seem to be doing this alliance tango for show. So Kejriwal and Maken both can retain their core voters. Ultimately they are transferring votes to each other where they think either of the candidates is strong, especially in New Delhi.

When we reached out to a volunteer from Meenakshi Lekhi’s campaign team, the volunteer was upbeat and said that the people recognise the work of Meenakshi Lekhi and especially, the work of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and no matter how Congress and AAP try to tango, victory shall be BJP’s.

In the 2014 general elections, Meenakshi Lekhi had won from the New Delhi constituency with a 46.73% vote share. While AAP came in second, Congress’ Ajay Maken came in third. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, it remains to be seen whether AAP’s strategy of tacitly supporting Maken would save face for Congress or would Lekhi still sweep the elections like 2014.

Sharad Pawar takes EVM hacking fantasy to a new level, says they can be ‘controlled’ via towers outside the polling booth

OpIndia Staff
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Sharad Pawar takes EVM hacking fantasy to a new level, says they can be ‘controlled’ via towers outside the polling booth

As the Lok Sabha elections in India conclude four phases of polling, opposition parties seem to be plunging further into the depths of conspiracy theories and otherworldly claims that can shame even the worst written science fiction.

In the latest, NCP chief Sharad Pawar has come up with a claim that can gain entry in the top 5 most ridiculous EVM hacking conspiracy theories ever made. Pawar, speaking to a TV channel in Maharashtra, has stated that the EVMs inside a polling booth has a ‘chip’ that can be manipulated from a ‘tower’ nearby.


Adding a statutory warning to his claim, Pawar also mentions that he does not know the details of the technology but he has heard it exists. He even goes ahead to add that during the Gujarat assembly elections, some ‘honest’ officers had ‘jammed’ the signals in some of the towers outside booths, hence BJP had to face a  tough fight.

Pawar also claimed that the people who were not elected, like Chandrakant Patil are claiming that the BJP will win. He adds that if BJP wins (because of EVM hacking)in Baramati, the people will lose their faith in the elections.

It is notable here that Baramati has been the Pawar bastion since decades and Pawar’s daughter Supriya Sule has been the MP from the seat after Pawar left electoral politics. This time BJP’s Kanchan Kool is challenging Sule from the seat.


The new “hacking via towers outside booth” is only the latest in many conspiracy theories peddled by opposition leaders on EVMs. Interestingly, none of the theories are heard when BJP loses an election. They also do not offer an explanation over the question that if BJP is indeed able to ‘hack’ EVMs, why has it lost multiple state elections and why the BJP had not attempted to ‘hack’ EVMs in the elections before 2014.

Speaking at a joint press conference in Mumbai just before the third phase polls, NCP chief Pawar, TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu and the leaders of AAP and TMC had made similar claims. TDP’s Naidu has stated that EVMs are vulnerable to programming errors and the BJP only gets votes through manipulating EVMs. AAP’s Sanjay Singh, however, failed to invent a theory of his own and repeated the old and worn out claim, “Push any button and the vote goes to BJP”.

The theories of EVM hacking are wide and colourful. During the Gujarat assembly polls, ‘journalist’ Sagarika Ghose had attempted to peddle the theory that EVMs are picking up ‘Bluetooth signals’ and that can lead to ‘network hacking’.

Via Twitter

Congress and the opposition leaders have been peddling the EVM hacking theories time and again after the BJP came to power with an absolute majority in 2014. Notably, when the election commission of India had thrown an open challenge to all political parties to ‘show’ how the EVMs can be hacked, none of the parties had turned up to take it. Congress’ Kapil Sibal had even tried to propagate the claims of a dubious ‘hacker’ through a press conference in the UK. However, that had ended up in massive embarrassment for the party.

Recently, Congress’ Sam Pitroda had claimed that he believes there is something wrong with the EVMs and though he cannot point it out, he can find it out if he is given an EVM to study for at least a year.

West Bengal: 100% cover by central forces in the 5th phase of polling after rampant violence and rigging in first 4 phases

OpIndia Staff
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West Bengal: 100% cover by central forces in the 5th phase of polling after rampant violence and rigging in first 4 phases

West Bengal has been the hotbed for political violence during the 2019 Lok Sabha election. Several incidents have been reported from various constituencies in West Bengal in the four phases of the Lok Sabha elections. Keeping this in view, the Election Commission, as a preventive measure, has decided to deploy 100 per cent cover by central forces in all the polling booths in the fifth phase of polls.

The decision was taken at a meeting between State Special Police Observer Vivek Dubey, Special Observer Ajay Nayak and Chief Electoral Officer Aariz Aftab. Furthering that the state police will not be allowed within 100 metres of the booths, the EC decided that a total of 578 companies of central forces would be deployed for the fifth phase of Lok Sabha elections to be held on 6th May in West Bengal.


During the first phase, the EC had deputed central forces at 50 per cent of the booths, which was increased to 92 per cent in the third phase of polling held on April 23. The fourth phase on April 29 saw a deployment of over 200 companies more as compared to the number in the third phase.

The decision comes a day after a BJP delegation led by Kailash Vijayvargiya and Babul Supriyo has approached the Election Commission to register their complaint against the violence allegedly unleashed by the TMC goons in West Bengal during the fourth phase of the Lok Sabha elections.

The BJP delegation in its complaint against the TMC has asserted that several booths were captured by its workers and violence was perpetrated against Babul Supriyo and stones pelted on his car.

BJP MP and Asansol candidate Babul Supriyo had visited a polling booth in Asansol constituency after villagers had threatened to boycott polls following the non-deployment of central forces in some polling booths.

Clashes took place between TMC workers and BJP workers over a disagreement on the deployment of Central forces to man the booths. In the ensuing scuffle, Babul Supriyo’s car was vandalised by the TMC goons.

Places like Birbhum and Asansol in West Bengal which went into polling during the fourth phase of elections reported rampant rigging with TMC leaders accompanying voters in the voting booth. Moreover, there were reports of massive violence from Asansol. Crude bombs have been found at a polling booth in Krishnanagar, West Bengal and also bombs have been recovered from a polling booth in Santipur, Nadia district. Also, Central forces, journalists, villagers along with a Union Minister were reportedly attacked in Dubrajpur district.

The fourth phases of Lok Sabha elections in West Bengal were mired in controversy just as the first three phases of elections. Threats, intimidations, bomb attacks, proxy voting have also been recorded in some of the Lok Sabha constituencies in West Bengal during the third phase of Lok Sabha elections.

Similarly, TMC workers had clashed with BJP workers inside a polling booth in Chopra, Darjeeling and broken an EVM machine during the second phase of elections that concluded on April 18th.

Incidentally, the first phase of the Lok Sabha polls was no different for West Bengal, Where elections are often greeted with violent skirmishes and clashes between competing parties. Violence and rampant polling malpractice were reported from Cooch Behar and Alipurduar, that had gone to polls in the first phase of the elections.

Moreover, there have been multitudes of reports of TMC goons perpetrating violence against their political adversaries in the past. However, these are only a few of the many incidents of violence and hooliganism which West Bengal has been a witness to in so many years of Mamata’s governance. With Mamata Banerjee at the helm of affairs in West Bengal, TMC goons under her protection, are empowered to carry out their depraved activities with impunity.

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