The state BJP today alleged that the ruling Trinamul Congress (TMC) has unleashed a reign of terror in the Kharagpur Assembly constituency area to rig the bypoll to be held on 25 November. The saffron party also alleged that the police have become blatantly partisan and are slapping false cases on BJP activists and supporters. BJP general secretary Raju Banerjee complained that a false propaganda has been launched against the BJP state president Dilip Ghosh by distributing fake newspaper reporting.

He alleged police are even picking up BJP activists from several Assembly booth areas, torturing them and later slapping false charges. “TMC is distributing money to launch false campaign against our state president. In each booth area, they are circulating fake news paper cuttings to malign our party. Police stood as mute spectator. TMC has proved that democracy is nowhere in the state,” he said. Banerjee said that TMC is preventing the Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar from touring the state in a bid to hide their crimes.

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“Democracy has been murdered here. So TMC is concerned whether Governor will expose more of their corruption,” he said. The BJP general secretary alleged that a tribal youth from Bharatiya Janata Yuba Morcha( BJYM) Jiten Loha, was brutally tortured by police. Loha was allegedly picked up by police from Lohagram- Joradanga in Jhargram. Meanwhile National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), acting on a complaint filed by BJP MPs, sent a letter to DGP West Bengal and the chief secretary to look into the matter. MP Soumitra Khan, Nisith Pramanik, Jyotirmoy Singh Mahato, Sukanta Majumder and Dr Jayanta Kumar Roy wrote to the NHRC demanding justice for Loha, who was severely injured allegedly in police custody.

BJP state president Dilip Ghosh yesterday said that party will resist all attempts by the ruling TMC to rig the by-election in three Assembly constituencies as they have information that the TMC will try to loot the votes the way it did in the last panchayat poll. He said the people had seen the real character of the Trinamul Congress and extended the support to the BJP and they will ensure the victory of the BJP. “This time BJP will prevent any attempt to capture a single booth by TMC-backed goons. People are expecting that they would be able to cast their vote freely and fairly as there were presence of the Central forces in several booths during last Parliament election and BJP also prevented TMC’s attempts to capture booths,” said Ghosh yesterday.

The by-elections are scheduled to be held on 25 November in Kharagpur Sadar assembly seat in West Midnapore district, Karimpur in Nadia and Kaliaganj in Uttar Dinajpur, which arecurrently held by the BJP, Trinamul Congress and the Congress respectively.