A Trinamool agent was apprehended red-handed while urging people to vote for Rachana Banerjee in Hooghly, stated BJP MP Locket Chatterjee.
“An AASHA worker was appointed as a booth agent in exchange for money. She was directed to persuade voters to support Rachana. This Trinamool agent, posing as an assistant, is stationed in booths, exclusively advocating for the TMC. No other party’s slip was found with her,” Chatterjee informed reporters as voting commenced in her constituency on Monday.
Chatterjee further noted that when confronted, the woman failed to provide satisfactory explanations and claimed to have received instructions from “sir”, who is an untraceable higher officials, said the BJP candidate from Hooghly.
Chatterjee said when the police were asked about the booth agent, they said that she was in charge of maintaining the queue. However, Chatterjee hit back saying that there were not many voters at the polling station at that time.
“When I told the police, they said that she was maintaining the queue. How many people were there that she was maintaining the queue?” the BJP MP said.
The BJP MP said she will apprise the Election Commission about this incident which took place at 117 booth number of Hooghly’s Dhaniakhali.
Earlier in the day, Chatterjee mentioned about overall peaceful scenario barring few instances of threats at some places in her constituency and she exuded confidence on hundred per cent voting.
“Everything is proceeding smoothly. There have been reports of intimidation at two to three locations, particularly at a booth in Balagarh, Dhaniakhali. Additionally, there have been some malfunctioning issues with EVM machines at a few locations, but efforts are underway to resolve them,” remarked Chatterjee.
Meanwhile, BJP candidate from Bangaon Lok Sabha seat Shantanu Thakur casts his vote on Monday.
While the TMC has fielded actor Rachna Banerjee from Hooghly, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) which is in partnership with the Congress in the INDIA bloc has fielded Manadip Ghosh.
Voting for the fifth phase of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections 2024 began across 49 parliamentary constituencies spread over six States and two Union Territories (UTs) amid tight security and arrangements on Monday.
