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News Desk: As West Bengal gears up for the sixth phase of polling in the assembly election on Thursday, three incidents of crude bombing were reported in the state on April 20. All three incidents took place in constituencies that will go to the polls in the sixth phase. One person lost his life due to one of the explosions.
Barrackpore
On Tuesday night, a crude bomb explosion occurred at a dumping ground on GC Road in Titagarh which falls under North 24 Parganas district. The police rushed to the spot and rescued two persons from under the debris.
The injured were taken to BN Bose Hospital where 28-year-old Rajkishore Jadav succumbed to his injuries in the wee hours of Wednesday morning. The other person was shifted to a hospital in Kolkata.
In another incident in Titagarh on Tuesday night, miscreants allegedly hurled crude bombs in the NJMC jute mill area of the city. This area is close to BJP leader Santosh Jena’s house.
The police went to the area on Wednesday morning and recovered two live crude bombs.
Following these two incidents, the area was engulfed in tension.
Titagarh falls under Barrackpore assembly constituency, which will go the polls on Thursday.
Jagatdal
Crude bombs were hurled in Bhatpara at around 1 am on Tuesday. This municipality falls under Jagatdal assembly constituency. It is a stronghold of BJP Member of Parliament Arjun Singh. He was earlier a member of the ruling All India Trinamool Congress (TMC).
The police reached the spot but no bombs were recovered. People from the locality have alleged that the BJP is behind the incident. They said the opposition party is trying to create panic amongst the people to prevent them from casting their vote.
Jagatdal assembly constituency too goes to the polls on Thursday.
Gearing up for the sixth phase
After these incidents, there is high security in Titagarh and Jagatdal. Security forces are trying to instill confidence in voters so that they come out and cast their vote on Thursday.
Both Barrackpur and Jagatdal constituencies were won by the TMC in 2016.
In Jagatdal, Somenath Shyam Ichini has been fielded by the TMC while Arindam Bhattacharya is BJP’s candidate. For Barrackpore, filmmaker Raj Chakraborty is TMC’s candidate and Chandramani Shukla is contesting from the BJP.
Polling in the assembly election will be completed with the eighth phase on April 29. The votes will be counted on May 2.
