Sporadic incidents of post-poll violence were reported in Siliguri late in the night after the town voted in the Municipal Corporation elections yesterday. Allegations and counter allegations were levelled by the CPI-M and the Trinamul Congress. Tension mounted in wards like 35 and 32 last night, hours after voting, which was largely peaceful, ended.

CPI-M leaders and workers alleged that ruling party leaders attacked local people and assaulted them at Das Para in ward 35, while they also allegedly vandalized the residence of a party worker in ward 32. The BJP also slammed the Trinamul Congress. Former Siliguri mayor Asok Bhattacharya, who visited both the wards today, said such violence was unprecedented in Siliguri.

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“Both the incidents prove how dangerous the Trinamul Congress is. We had fought against them in the polls, opposing their aggression and arrogance. We had appealed to people to not cast their votes to them. We will meet the Siliguri police commissioner, demanding arrest of the perpetrators. It is beyond our imagination that such incidents occurred in Siliguri,” Mr Bhattacharya said.

On the other hand, Darjeeling district Trinamul Congress (Plains) president Papiya Ghosh said her party activists did not indulge in violence. “Trinamul Congress workers did not attack anyone. Rather, the problems of other political parties have been imposed on us,” Mrs Ghosh said. At Das Para, the DYFI local committee member and booth convener of the ward, Satyajit Das, said around 60 ruling members of the TMC led by former ward councilor and husband of TMC candidate (Sampa Nandy) Jaydip Nandy hounded the local people at 11 pm last night. Mr Das alleged they also hurled bombs and fired at least two rounds of bullets in the air. Police, however, said they did not find any evidence to substantiate the charges.

A local woman, Pratima Das Saha, who runs a shop in the area, and her mother Narayani Das, alleged that they had been assaulted. “Mr Nandy was looking for my brother Bimal, who is associated with the Trinamul Congress. They beat him up and assaulted us also. Why will they assault my brother when he belongs to the same party? We are scared of the situation,” she said. Bimal Das and his sisterin-law Sabita Das were admitted in the Siliguri District Hospital. According to the local people, they were spending sleepless nights. A police team has now been posted in the area.

Dabgram-Fulbari’s BJP MLA Sikha Chatterjee went to the area today and interacted with the locals. Mrs Chatterjee said violence in any form on anyone could not be tolerated. “Why will post-poll violence occur? Even a 16-year-old girl was not spared from the attack yesterday. A peaceful environment should exist. The Trinamul Congress has already unleashed attacks before the election results. I fear what will happen if they win. We will file a complaint with the West Bengal Election Commission. I condemn both the incidents, irrespective of party colour of the victims,” she said.

Refuting the charges, Mr Nandy, however, said the CPIM activists had attacked his party men. “They launched an attack when our party workers were holding a picnic after the polls. Around three activists were injured, and they pelted stones and vandalized a car. We have filed a police complaint against six persons. The charges leveled against us are completely baseless,” he said.

In another incident, a CPIM worker and polling agent of the candidate of ward 32, Bidhayak Chandra Das, Soma Bhattacharya, said, “In the night at 11.30 pm, when we were sleeping, two Trinamul Congress neo-converts suddenly stormed into our rooms after kicking the door open, beating two of my sisters-inlaw, and went on the rampage for an hour. They intimidated us and warned of dire consequences. Our house was almost gheraoed by other Trinamul Congress activists so that nobody can enter it or step out. We are scared of the incident.” She alleged that the police came after an hour despite dialling them on 100. “My son was outside and he was also severely beaten up. My allegations are against those two Trinamul Congress turncoats but have nothing against the party as a whole. Two other Trinamul Congress activists of my neighbourhood saved my son,” she said.

Former CPI-M councillor of the ward Tapas Chatterjee has sought re-election in the ward, this time on TMC ticket. He walked into the Trinamul camp on 22 September last year. Sources said there was strong discontent in the party over his candidature earlier.