Five workers of the Bharatiya Janata Party and four Trinamool Congress members were arrested after a clash outside a Kolkata police station on Monday, reported ANI.
The clash erupted during the campaign for the Assembly elections. Polling in West Bengal will be held in two phases on April 23 and April 29. The votes will be counted on May 4.
The campaign for the first phase concludes on Tuesday.
On Monday, the supporters of BJP’s Kolkata Port candidate Rakesh Singh gathered at a meeting on Hossain Shah Road and shouted slogans, ANI quoted police officers as saying.
Trinamool Congress workers also shouted slogans in response, leading to violence, the news agency reported.
A few persons were injured in the clashes, IANS quoted Deputy Commissioner of Police Harikrishna Pai as saying.
Three first information reports have been registered in connection with the incident, the police said.
Clashes between workers of the two parties were also reported in the Nandigram constituency, reported The Hindu on Monday. BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari is contesting the polls there.
TMC moves High Court
Amid this, advocate and Trinamool Congress’ Lok Sabha MP Kalyan Banerjee moved the High Court on Monday, raising concerns that several party workers could face arrest ahead of polling, reported The Telegraph.
The Election Commission is said to have prepared a list of nearly 1,000 individuals described as “troublemakers”, he told the court.
Banerjee said that “there is a strong fear of arrest of those Trinamool workers, so the court needs to intervene in this matter immediately”, reported The Telegraph.
Restrictions of use of motorcycles
Meanwhile, the poll panel said that motorcycles will not be allowed on roads between 6 pm and 6 am starting two days before the polling, according to the newspaper.
In a directive, the Election Commission further said that pillion riders will not be allowed between 6 am and 6 pm, except in medical emergencies, for family functions or for dropping and picking up children from school.
The restrictions were being imposed to ensure “free, fair, peaceful and violence-free elections” and to prevent “any form of intimidation and source jamming”, the newspaper quoted the directive as saying.
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