New Delhi: A booth president of the Bharatiya Janata Party was allegedly attacked in West Bengal's Cooch Behar Lok Sabha constituency ahead of first phase of elections on Friday, April 19. The constituency in northern West Bengal went to polls in the first phase on April 19 from 7 am.

BJP president of booth number 63-  Bairati A.P. School booth, Lab Sarkar, was allegedly by workers of ruling Trinamool Congress, said the BJP in its complaint to the Cooch Behar Police. The police has registered the matter and will be investigating the matter and the identities of the attackers were yet to be ascertained.

The BJP booth president has suffered head injuries and was admitted to a nearby hospital. BJP's camp office has also been allegedly burnt down in Jalpaiguri. 

First Phase of Polls Begin 

Polling for the first phase of Lok Sabha Elections 2024 on 102 seats spread across 21 states is underway. In Bengal, three key constituencies -Cooch Behar, Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar Lok Sabha seats go to polls in the first phase on April 19. 

Union Minister of State for Home Nisith Pramanik is taking on TMC's Jagadish Chandra Barma Basunia in Cooch Behar (SC) seat, which saw the death of four persons in firing allegedly by central forces at Sitalkuchi during the 2021 assembly elections, that has been made an issue by the TMC in the current poll campaign also.

Heavy Security in Cooch Behar 

The longstanding rivalry between Pramanik and TMC's Dinhata MLA and North Bengal Development minister Udayan Guha seems to have contributed to the palpable tension in Cooch Behar over the elections.

In view of the death of four persons in a firing allegedly by CISF personnel at a booth in Sitalkuchi during the 2021 assembly polls, the Election Commission has decided not to deploy any personnel of that force there.

The Border Security Force (BSF) and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) or the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) personnel will be deployed there for the April 19 polls, an EC official has said. At least 112 companies of central forces and 4,500 state police will be deployed in Cooch Behar, which is almost double compared to the forces deployed in the other two districts, he said.