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Lok Sabha elections 2019: Prestige battle between BJP and TMC on high-profile seat in Bengal
A First Information Report was registered against Supriyo on Monday for reportedly threatening a presiding officer inside a polling booth. Supriyo, 49, came under attack allegedly from TMC supporters in Barabani, and his car was vandalised.
Asansol was a prestige fight for West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, whose Trinamool Congress party fielded Sreemati Dev Varma, popularly known as Moon Moon Sen to contest Bharatiya Janata Party’s Babul Supriyo, who had in 2014.
Asansol was one of the eight Lok Sabha seats that went to polls on April 29; the state, which has 42 seats has already seen voting for 10 seats in the past three phases of the ongoing general elections. The remaining 24 will go to polls over the next three phases of the seven-phased elections, which end on May 19.
A First Information Report was registered against Supriyo on Monday for reportedly threatening a presiding officer inside a polling booth. Supriyo, 49, came under attack allegedly from TMC supporters in Barabani, and his car was vandalised.
In turn, TMC alleged that one of their workers was beaten up by BJP supporters.
“Babul Supriyo entered the booth without taking permission from the presiding officer. The BJP candidate initially threatened the TMC polling agent. When an altercation broke out between Supriyo and the TMC polling agent, the presiding officer tried to intervene. Supriyo then turned his ire against the presiding officer. Following the direction from the EC, a police complaint has been lodged and subsequently an FIR was registered against the BJP candidate,” said a senior officer attached to the CEO in Kolkata who did not wish to be named.
Asansol is peopled by coal mine workers, blue collar workers in industrial units, Hindi speaking people and local Bengalis. The constituency has a total electorate of 1.6 million.
