75-year-old Basudev Acharia was reportedly thrown to the ground and beaten up with sticks.
Veteran CPI(M) leader and former lawmaker Basudeb Acharia was assaulted allegedly by Trinamool Congress (TMC) workers in West Bengal's Purulia district on Friday when a
BJP leader was also attacked by half a dozen men in West Bengal's Bankura when he arrived at the District Magistrate's office to file a complaint for the violence over filing nominations for the panchayat polls scheduled for next month.
Mr Acharia was accompanying party workers to file their nominations in Kashipur when they were attacked allegedly by TMC workers. The 75-year-old senior party leader was reportedly thrown to the ground and beaten up with sticks. He was admitted to the intensive care unit. Other party leaders and workers were also injured in the incident. All of them are recovering at the hospital.
Condemning the attack, the CPI-M tweeted, "Widespread attacks by TMC goons on our comrades in Bengal. Today Comrade Basudeb Acharia, 9 times former MP was attacked today and had to be hospitalized. Protest and Resist! Save Democracy!."
West Bengal has witnessed
sporadic violence over filing nominations to 60,000
panchayat seats for which voting will be held on 1, 3 and 5 May.
Opposition parties, including the BJP, CPI(M) and Congress, claim the TMC is not allowing their candidates to file nominations.
On Friday, attackers wearing helmets and their faces covered with scarves smashed the rear windshield of a BJP leader's vehicle. He was taken out of the vehicle and thrashed. The BJP claims the attack was carried out by supporters of the Trinamool Congress, but West Bengal's ruling party has denied the charges.
In Kolkata, meanwhile, BJP leaders sat on a dharna at the Gandhi statue on Mayo Road. The CPM is on a sit-in protest at the state election commission office.