As polling got underway in West Bengal in the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha elections 2024 on Monday, BJP MP Locket Chatterjee claimed that a Trinamool Congress agent, working in disguise as an assistant in booths, asked people to vote in TMC’s favour.
Addressing reporters as polling kicked off in her constituency this morning, Chatterjee said, “An ASHA worker was made to sit as a booth agent in lieu of money. She has been instructed to ask people to vote for Rachana. She is a Trinamool agent working as an assistant in booths, asking people to vote for TMC. There is no other party slip with her.”
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Chatterjee said the woman couldn’t provide satisfactory answers when questioned and claimed she was directed by higher authorities who couldn’t be located. “She could not say anything when countered. She said that she had been instructed by some ‘Sir’ who could not be found,” the BJP candidate from Hooghly said.
The BJP leader further claimed that upon inquiry with the police about the booth agent, they claimed she was managing the queue. However, Chatterjee contested this citing the low number of voters present at the polling station at that time.
“When I told the police, they said that she was maintaining the queue. How many people were there that she was maintaining the queue?” she questioned.
Chatterjee has said that she will move the Election Commission (EC) regarding the incident which took place at 117 booth number of Hooghly’s Dhaniakhali.
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“Everything is going on fine…There were instances of threatening at 2-3 places at a booth in Balagarh, Dhaniakhali. EVM machines are not working at a few locations but work is going on those,” Chatterjee said earlier in the day while speaking to ANI.
According to an Election Commission official, by 9 am, a voter turnout of 15.35 per cent was recorded in the seven Lok Sabha constituencies in West Bengal in this phase.
Uluberia saw the highest polling at 17.25 per cent, followed by Arambag (SC) at 16.38 per cent, Howrah at 15.20 per cent, Bangaon (SC) at 15.19 per cent, Barrackpore at 15.08 per cent, Sreerampur at 14.43 per cent, and Hooghly at 14.01 per cent.
The TMC has put forward actor Rachna Banerjee as their candidate in Hooghly, while the Communist Party of India (Marxist), aligned with the Congress in the INDIA bloc, has nominated Manadip Ghosh.