Bhabanipur bypolls: Section 144 imposed in 200-metre radius of polling stations

Kolkata, West Bengal: On directions of the Election Commission, Kolkata Police imposed restrictions under Section 144 of CrPC in the 200-metre radius of polling stations in Bhabanipur Assembly constituency from Tuesday evening. The restrictions will be imposed till the conclusion of voting for the bypolls on 30 September. This came after a delegation of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) comprising Union ministers Bhupender Yadav, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Anurag Thakur and BJP leader Om Pathak met the Election Commission of India (ECI) over violence and issues related to West Bengal by-elections on Tuesday. After meeting the officials of ECI, Yadav told the mediapersons that the delegation demanded action against the Trinamool Congress-led West Bengal government. “We met EC and told them that polls and violence are synonyms to each other in West Bengal. It seems that Didi and her workers have more faith in violence than polls. Attacks on Dilip Ghosh showed that TMC and the West Bengal government consider violence to be democracy. We demand action,” Yadav said. The Union minister informed that the EC had asked the state government to submit a report on the incident, where it had mentioned that eight people were arrested in the matter. Earlier on Monday, Ghosh alleged that he was attacked and abused by TMC workers while campaigning for the Bhabanipur by-poll. He also alleged that one of the BJP workers who were accompanying him during campaigning was beaten up. The BJP leader had also demanded the suspension of the upcoming by-poll on the Bhabanipur constituency in West Bengal. The voting on the seat will take place on 30 September.