BJP legislator alleges manhandling by police and Trinamool supporters in Jalpaiguri

Sikha Chattopadhyay, the BJP legislator from Dabgram-Phulbari, one of the seven Assembly seats under the Jalpaiguri Lok Sabha constituency, on Friday accused the police and Trinamool Congress supporters of manhandling her while she was moving around in a ward under supervising polling.

Chattopadhyay said that while she was moving around a ward under the Siliguri Municipal Corporation (SMC), the police suddenly stopped her following which she and her supporters got involved in a heated exchange of words with the cops.

Later, when the Trinamool supporters reached the spot, tension escalated as the police somehow managed to keep the two rival groups at a distance.

“This particular ward is under SMC Mayor Gautam Deb. So if the Trinamool trails here, the Mayor will be reprimanded by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. That is why the ruling party workers and the police were not willing to allow me to go there so that the Trinamool workers could resort to hooliganism and election malpractices,” Chattopadhyay alleged.

Deb, however, accused the BJP legislator of trying to create tension in the constituency which she represents.

“She was trying to influence the voters,” Deb alleged.