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A mob attacked the office of the Block Development Officer (BDO) in West Bengal’s Uttar Dinajpur district on Thursday morning, the second such incident in 24 hours over allegations that officials were harassing voters during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the state’s electoral roll.
Dozens of people barged into the BDO office in Chakulia, Uttar Dinajpur, wielding bamboo sticks and ransacked the place, damaging furniture and computers as well as the vehicles in the complex.
“We have received a complaint from the BDO. Investigation is going on,” said an officer from Chakulia police station. An official later in the evening said 10 people had been arrested in the case.
In a post on X, the West Bengal chief electoral officer released a copy of its complaint to the police and said government property worth ₹20 lakh had been damaged in the attack. It also said “10 miscreants have been detained”.
According to a copy of the FIR, the attack was carried out by about 300 people at about 9:30 am on Thursday. The BDO’s complaint said police personnel, including the Chakulia police station in charge, tried to resist the attack but were also “badly injured”.
A large police contingent was deployed to bring the situation under control. Police had to resort to lathi charge and even fired tear gas to disperse the mob.
A protester against the SIR told reporters that people were being harassed under the guise of conducting hearings. “One voter is being asked to appear more than once and produce multiple documents to prove that he is a genuine voter. Illiterate village women and ailing senior citizens are being asked to come to the hearing,” the person told reporters.
Minhajul Arfin Azad, TMC MLA from Chaulia told HT that Congress supporters were behind the attack. “The Congress, which is a B-team of the BJP in Chakulia, ransacked the BDO office and even damaged the TMC party office. TMC workers were not involved in the attack,” he said.
On Wednesday, the BDO office at Farakka in West Bengal’s Murshidabad district was vandalised while a hearing for the Special Intensive Revision was going on.
“Six persons have already been arrested. Investigation is going on. The matter has been taken up at the highest level of the state government to ensure the safety and security of officials associated with the SIR process,” Manoj Kumar Agarwal, CEO of West Bengal, told media persons in connection with the Farakka incident.
Amit Malviya, head of the BJP’s IT cell, said in a post on X, “After Farakka, TMC’s attempts to violently disrupt SIR proceedings continue, with chaos erupting during an ongoing hearing at the BDO office in Chakulia, Uttar Dinajpur district. The situation spiralled into violence as multiple office equipment items were set on fire and extensive vandalism took place, forcing the hearing to be suspended. Most of those involved are affiliated with the ruling TMC and are alleging that ‘minority names’ are being removed. This kind of appeasement politics is pushing Bengal towards complete lawlessness, where mob rules and governance collapses”.
At Chatna in Bankura, a scuffle broke out between TMC and BJP workers inside the joint BDO’s office. While BJP workers alleged that TMC workers were stopping them from submitting the form to delete fake voters, the TMC claimed that the BJP was trying to get the names of genuine voters deleted from the electoral roll.
