Abhishek Banerjee, senior leader of the Trinamool Congress, on Wednesday alleged that an elderly voter died after being assaulted by central forces in Howrah district during polling for the second phase of the West Bengal Assembly elections.
In a strongly worded post on X, Banerjee accused the central forces deployed in the state of acting as the Bharatiya Janata Party’s ‘private army’ and intimidating voters.
Citing the incident in Udaynarayanpur, he claimed that the elderly man had gone to vote along with his son and collapsed after central personnel allegedly pushed and assaulted them, when the son tried to help him enter the polling booth.
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“The old man collapsed, was taken to Amta Hospital and declared dead on arrival,” Banerjee wrote. The Diamond Harbour MP further alleged that since morning, central forces had been ‘lapping women, assaulting the elderly, attacking even children’, and compared the situation to what he described as a ‘Sitalkuchi mentality’ from 2021.
Referring to the Sitalkuchi firing incident, Banerjee said the BJP had paid a political price then and would ‘pay an even heavier price in 2026’.
He also warned that those allegedly responsible for excesses would be ‘brought to justice under the full force of the law’. There was no immediate response from the BJP, the central forces, or the Election Commission of India regarding the allegations.
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