Tension prevails in West Bengal’s Chopra amid voting; RAF deployed

Tension prevailed in the first hours of voting in North Dinajpur’s Chopra, which falls under Darjeeling constituency.

Locals allege that bike-borne youths prevented them several times from casting their votes. The womenfolk of the village claim that they were attacked by these miscreants. They allege that a lack of presence of Central force jawans led to this situation.

“Since morning, we tried to go to the polling booth to cast our votes. Each time we were prevented from casting our votes. These miscreants attacked the women of the village. They beat us up and scared us so that we go back home without casting our votes. The booth has been manned by the state police officials. There is no central force jawan. Had they been deployed, we could have been able to cast our vote,” said an agitating local.

The tension increased manifolds after the agitating locals put up a road blockade on the National Highway – 31. Police resorted to a lathi-charge and fired tear gas shells to disperse agitating locals.

Meanwhile, a huge contingent of state police and Rapid Action Force (RAF) has been deployed at the spot to prevent any further agitation or a road blockade.

Meanwhile, the Chief Electoral Officer’s (CEO) office has sought a report from the district magistrate of North Dinajpur regarding the incident.