In a shocking development that creates a big doubt about the fairness of the ongoing elections as far as the state of West Bengal is concerned, Times Now has reported that voters in the Raiganj Lok Sabha constituency of the state were discriminated against on religious lines. The Hindu voters were not allowed to cast their vote. Some of the Hindu voters alleged that they were blocked on their way to the polling booth. Some other Hindu voters also alleged that fake votes had already been cast in their names when they reached the polling booth.
As per the Times Now report and the eyewitness accounts of the shocking development, Hindu voters were stopped from voting by some Muslim men and their Voter ID cards were also snatched. The Hindu voters said that had they been allowed to vote, they would have voted for the BJP.
The village where this incident took place is a Muslim-dominated village with merely 600 Hindus. As per the Hindu voters who were not allowed to exercise their franchise, they were not allowed to vote because of the profiling of the village. As per the voters, the village has a leaning towards a particular political party.
One of the Hindu voters said, “I was stopped from going to the polling booth. Four to five Muslim men tried to beat me and damage my bicycle. They said you are from the BJP and asked me to run away.” It must be noted that this shameful development comes at a time when the BJP has already lodged a complaint with the Election Commission against the TMC over the issue of violence across different Lok Sabha constituencies in the state of West Bengal.
Earlier, BJP candidate from Raiganj, Debasree Chaudhuri, had also alleged that TMC workers were involved in booth capturing. Clearly, her allegations stand corroborated. She had said, “TMC workers were trying to capture booth. They were campaigning among Muslims there. This isn’t election campaign.”
It is shameful how the Right to vote which accrues to every citizen of India notwithstanding any form of discrimination, including religion has been blatantly violated in the Raiganj constituency of West Bengal. This is something which cannot be taken lightly. It is a direct assault at the democratic set up of India. In fact, voting in the Raiganj constituency stands vitiated due to this incident. And now it is for the Election Commission to take appropriate action in this matter.