Bengal panchayat polls | Opposition leaders 'assaulted', 'stopped' from filing nominations

Several incidents of clashes were reported from different parts of West Bengal, as unidentified miscreants allegedly attacked Opposition leaders while they were on their way to file nomination papers for the panchayat polls.

Several incidents of clashes were reported from different parts of West Bengal on June 12, as unidentified miscreants allegedly attacked Opposition leaders while they were on their way to file nomination papers for the panchayat polls, a senior official said.

The skirmishes were reported in Daspur (Paschim Medinipur), Kakdwip (South 24 Parganas), Raninagar (Murshidabad), Saktinagar and Barshul (both in Purba Bardhaman) and Minakhan (North 24 Parganas), he said.

A CPI(M) party office at Minakhan in Basirhat subdivision was "vandalised" and the candidate was "assaulted" by the miscreants when he was going to file his nomination, the official said.

In another incident at Sonamukhi in Bankura district, BJP MLA Dibakar Gharami was allegedly attacked by unidentified people as he was heading to the nomination centre.

Also Read | West Bengal panchayat polls | Violence erupts at several places during filing of nomination papers

"Several such incidents of clashes have been reported, and we have sought details in this regard from the DMs and SPs," the senior State Election Commission (SEC) official told PTI.

The development comes on a day the SEC directed all district magistrates and superintendents of police to impose prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the CRPC in 1-km radius of all nomination centres.