TMC protests against BJP's Sreerupa Choudhary at polling station in Malda

MALDA: Trinamool Congress leaders and party workers protested against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate from South Malda Lok Sabha seat Sreerupa Mitra Choudhary when she reached a polling station in her constituency.

Speaking about the incident, Choudhary said, "At 18 number ward, there are five booths and 6000 voters. Over there the local councillor, Nivedita Kundu and her husband, Ashish Kundu who is from TMC gathered a mob and surrounded the main entrance of the polling station and started raising political slogans. They were creating obstructions for the voters and they wanted to create fear in them so that they don't come to vote."

The BJP candidate said that such kind of culture can be seen only in West Bengal and those miscreants wanted to scare the voters out of frustration.

"This kind of behaviour is an assault on the festival of democracy and is shameful for a public representative and her family. This kind of culture can only be seen in West Bengal. They are habitual offenders of offences like instilling fear in the minds of voters, taking control of polling stations and booth capturing. Here, they weren't able to capture the booth or rig the elections, hence, they wanted to scare the voters out of frustration," Choudhary said.

The South Malda BJP candidate further said that poll violence is seen only in West Bengal, owing to which the state does not prosper.

"I have seen the blatant violation of law and order here and the disregard for constitutional processes and institutions. This is an unfortunate situation in Bengal due to which the state does not develop, people suffer including women and youth," Choudhary said.

Speaking about the situation at present, Choudhary said, "We have lodged a complaint and action has been taken. They have been dispersed and the voting has been started again. Some strict steps have been taken. I hope that people can vote in the remaining 2-4 hours."

In Malda Dakshin, BJP's Sreerupa Mitra Chaudhury has been pitted against Congress' Isha Khan Choudhury and Shahnawaz Ali Raihan of the TMC.

Known locally as the 'Nirbhaya Didi' of Kolkata, Sreerupa was involved in the process of rehabilitation of rape victims while also providing toilets for women. She also chaired a special task force on rape, trafficking and violence against women set up by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh after the horrific gangrape and murder of a paramedical student in the national capital in 2012.

She resigned from this post in December 2013, amid speculations that she might contest the Malda Lok Sabha seat on a TMC ticket.

In 2019, she contested Malda Dakshin on a BJP ticket but lost to Congress' Abu Hasem Khan Chowdhury by a small margin. In the 2021 assembly elections, Chaudhury again contested on a BJP ticket from English Bazar and won over her nearest TMC rival.