Lock up anti-socials: Trinamool to poll panel ahead of Nandigram battle

Kolkata, Mar 29: Trinamool Congress has written to the Election Commission, asking for the arrest of all anti-social elements in Purba Medinipur district.

In a letter to the chief electoral officer, TMC leader Derek O''Brien claimed that in spite of the local police being apprised of this, no action had been taken.

"During the first phase of polls in Purba (east) Medinipur, there has been large scale violence by anti-social elements of the Bharatiya Janata Party, resulting in grave injuries to many people and also various instances of booth capturing, rigging and jamming by them," the Trinamool wrote to the poll body.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who is also the TMC boss, is locked in a fierce contest with her protege-turned- adversary Adhikari in Nandigram in East Midnapore district, which goes to polls in the second phase on April 1.

In a separate letter to the CEO, the ruling party said there have been instances of booth capturing and rigging during the first phase of polls held on March 27, adding that "anti-social elements" of the BJP are camping in the district to "create large-scale violence".

The TMC urged the commission to take these "criminals" into preventive custody in the interest of free and fair polls.

The party also demanded that there should be no deployment of armed police personnel from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and other BJP-ruled states during the remaining seven phases of the assembly polls.

On Mar 27, a clash broke out on Saturday between activists of the BJP and the TMC in Purba Medinipur''s Nandigram constituency -- which is set to go to polls on April 1 -- leaving at least three persons seriously injured.

Seikh Sufiyan, the election agent of TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee, however, claimed that goons hired by the BJP carried out an attack on the workers of the state''s ruling party, a charge denied by the saffron camp.