Kolkata: The BJP party office in Arambag was set ablaze this evening as the Trinamool Congress inched towards a huge victory in the assembly elections, reopening allegations of violence by the ruling party. The BJP leaders and workers tweeted the video, alleging that Trinamool has unleashed violence on their workers elsewhere as well.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, however, said it was the BJP workers who chased her party's Arambagh candidate Sujata Mondal and hit her on the head near polling booth.
Cellphone videos from Arambag -- a town in Hooghly district 80-odd kilometres from Kolkata -- showed a fire raging through a temporary structure.
"After results for West Bengal assembly came in, TMC goons burnt down BJP's party office in Arambagh... Is this what Bengal will have to suffer for the next 5 years?" tweeted the BJP's IT cell chief Amit Malviya..
"TMC cadres didn't stop at burning BJP's party offices, they set our booth agent's house in Bishnupur also on fire..." read a second tweet.
The Trinamool is leading in more than 210 seats in the recently concluded assembly election. The BJP, which was targeting 200 seats is leading in 70-plus seats.
The BJP has been vocal about violence in the state over the last two years. The Election Commission said they factored in the security angle while charting the schedule for the elections.
Violence in the run-up to the polls has been followed by the two parties blaming each other.
Today, a senior state leader of the BJP had appealed to the Trinamool Congress that no violence takes place after the election.