West Bengal / Kolkata: ‘Counting’ of Panchayat elections was going on, candidate’s husband ran away with ballot box

Counting of votes for the West Bengal Panchayat elections is going on today, for which tight security arrangements have been made. But a shocking news has come out from Malda. Despite all the security arrangements, the husband of a candidate here allegedly tried to run away with the ballot box. However, the police chased him and caught him and also thrashed him. The matter pertains to a counting center in Sovanagar Gram Panchayat of Malda.

#WATCH | West Bengal panchayat election | Ruckus ensued at a counting centre in Sovanagar gram panchayat of Malda after the husband of a candidate allegedly attempted to flee from here with a ballot box. He was chased by Police and nabbed. pic.twitter.com/ngHV0MTRo6

— ANI (@ANI) July 11, 2023

Bombing in Diamond Harbour, lathi charge in Howrah

Earlier the news came out that there was a fierce bombardment in front of Fakir Chand College in Diamond Harbor area. The BJP had alleged that the TMC was not letting go of the counting center and had occupied it. Diamond Harbor is a city located in South 24 Parganas district. In Howrah, security personnel had to resort to lathicharge to disperse a large number of people gathered outside a polling station. These people were allegedly trying to enter the counting center.

When was the voting done?

For the Panchayat elections of West Bengal, voting was held in total 22 districts on July 8, in which votes were cast for 63 thousand 229 seats in Gram Panchayat, 9 thousand 730 seats in Panchayat Samiti and 928 seats in Zilla Parishad. During the elections, cases of violence, booth capturing and nuisance were reported in many districts. After which the election was canceled in many places and re-voting was held. In view of the situation, heavy security forces were deployed in the re-election, while CCTV cameras have been installed to keep an eye on each and every activity on the day of counting.