Protests take centre stage after West Bengal panchayat polls turn violent | Top updates

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panchayat elections and over allegations of irregularities. They blocked the Haldia-Mecheda state highway at Nandakumar alleging that ballot boxes were being tampered with at the counting centre, according to a report published by the news agency PTI.  Congress workers blocked the National Highway 12 in Rathbari area in Malda, protesting against the violence during polling on Saturday.

"We have hit the streets in protest against Saturday's violence. We will also go to the court against it," Congress MP Abu Hasem Khan Choudhury said.

1) In the district's Harishchandrapur area, state minister Tajmul Hossain's car was vandalized in Basta village by some miscreants around 10 pm on Saturday. A police vehicle was also vandalized as stones were hurled.

A policeman was injured in the attack, PTI reported.  2) Congress workers held similar protests in Murshidabad district's Beldanga, alleging that supporters of the ruling TMC indulged in intimidation of voters and false voting with impunity during the polls.  3) Voters in large numbers in New Town on Kolkata's northern fringes have claimed that they were not allowed to exercise their franchise in the West Bengal panchayat elections, as “goons" stopped them from entering polling booths in the area. 4) Some residents of the smart city, under the banner of New Town Forum, had been protesting for long against the inclusion of the township in panchayat area.

The forum had also decided to boycott the polls. 5) Local CPI(M) leader Saptarshi Deb said access routes to all polling stations were blocked, and he was not allowed to step out of his home on Saturday, as per PTI reports.  6) Despite repeated requests from the Border Security Force (BSF) on sensitive polling booths, the West