Locket Chatterjee claimed that vote rigging took place in more than 80% of Dhaniakhali booths today.
A complaint has been filed against the BJP's Locket Chatterjee for allegedly threatening a presiding officer at a poll booth in West Bengal's Hooghly constituency during the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha elections earlier today.
The BJP candidate from Hooghly, however, relates a different version of events. During a sit-in protest outside the Hooghly District Magistrate's office to highlight alleged instances of vote-rigging in many parts of the Lok Sabha constituency, Ms Chatterjee accused the presiding officer of doing little to prevent the poll violations.
"I went to Dhaniakhali this morning to find that rigging was taking place in more than 80% of its booths," she told NDTV. "They had invited the presiding officer to lunch, so they could indulge in largescale vote rigging behind his back."
The BJP has demanded repolling at all the booths in the Dhaniakhali Vidhan Sabha constituency to ensure free-and-fair elections.
Ms Chatterjee has been fielded against two-term Trinamool Congress parliamentarian Ratna De Nag, the Communist Party of India (Marxist)'s Pradip Saha and the Congress' Pratul Chandra Saha in Hooghly. Ratna De Nag had defeated Pradip Saha by a margin of around 1.9 lakh votes in 2014.
The BJP candidate also alleged that she was targeted by Trinamool Congress supporters while voting was taking place earlier today. "They attacked my car and tortured me with the backing of Alpana Patra, the sister of Trinammol Congress legislator Asima Patra," she said.
She has also filed a complaint in this connection.
The BJP has also demanded repolling in the state's Barrackpore Lok Sabha constituency, alleging that the Trinamool Congress has resorted to booth rigging and violence to win the elections. Even as reports of clashes came in, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said that "goons" from the Trinamool Congress were terrorising people to vote in favour of its candidates. "As the Trinamool Congress cannot win with the people's support, it has resorted to rigging and violence across West Bengal. Voters who do not support it are being terrorised by party goons," he told reporters in New Delhi.
Sitting Trinamool Congress parliamentarian Dinesh Trivedi is taking on BJP candidate Arjun Singh in Barrackpore. A complaint has also been filed against Arjun Singh for allegedly scuffling with protesters in the Lok Sabha constituency.
(With inputs from PTI)