Nandigram: BJP on Sunday won the tension-filled Bhekutia Samabay Samiti elections in Nandigram 1, which had been a Trinamool bastion till the 2021 Bengal assembly polls. BJP bagged 11 of the 12 cooperative society seats, while Trinamool took one.
The win gave BJP a much needed boost after losing two cooperative polls - in Nandigram II’s Birulia and Contai’s Mahisda - and quite a few madrassa boards just a month ago. The Bhekutia polls were keenly fought in the spare-no-quarter political battle between BJP and Trinamool, with both parties trading charges that “outsiders” were drafted to rig the results. Police had to chase away supporters of both parties to maintain peace during voting.
“We wanted peaceful polls. But BJP used muscle power and brought outsiders. They forcibly took voters to the polling booths in vehicles and made them vote for BJP. Locals put up a resistance from time to time,” said Trinamool Nandigram block president Bappaditya Kar.
BJP’s Meghnad Pal countered that it was Trinamool that “brought people from outside” and “mounted tension in the otherwise peaceful polls”. Pal said: “People voted for us spontaneously. ”
