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A scuffle broke out between CPI(M) candidate from Murshidabad, Mohammed Salim, and Trinamool Congress (TMC) supporters at a polling booth at Domkal in Murshidabad Lok Sabha constituency on Tuesday during the third phase of polling.
Mohammed Salim said, "People are being threatened and scared. Police officers themselves do it. Even on the day of polling, voters are being stopped and threatened and goons are saying that if you vote we will see you in the night. It is a rule that no one can enter within 200 mts of the polling booth but they are giving slogans here." Some of the TMC supporters standing near the polling booth shouted 'Go back' slogans at the CPI(M) candidate MD Salim. Murshidabad seat is witnessing a triangular contest between Abu Taher Khan of Trinamool Congress, Gouri Sankar Ghosh of the Bharatiya Janata Party, and MD Salim of CPI (M). Earlier BJP's candidate for the Jangipur Lok Sabha constituency of Murshidabad, Dhananjay Ghosh, got into a scuffle with the block president of the ruling TMC on Tuesday. Speaking to ANI on Tuesday, Dhananjay Ghosh said, "I was visiting the booth as the BJP candidate and the TMC block president threatened me. If a candidate is openly threatened this way, one can imagine the state of the common people in the state. We will lodge a complaint with the Election Commission about this incident." Political violence during elections is nothing new in Murshidabad, with clashes and deaths reported in the district in all panchayat polls since 2003. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the All India Trinamool Congress won Jangipur and Murshidabad Lok Sabha constituencies. West Bengal is still leading the voter turnout at 49.27 per cent turnout at 1 pm, while Goa is inching closer to it at 49.04 per cent voter turnout till 1 pm in the third phase of polling, as per the data provided by the Election Commission of India. The states and UTs polling in Phase 3 include Assam (4), Bihar (5), Chhattisgarh (7), Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (2), Goa (2), Gujarat (25), Karnataka (14), Maharashtra (11), Madhya Pradesh (8), Uttar Pradesh (10) and West Bengal (4). More than 1300 candidates, including about 120 women, are bidding for membership of the Lok Sabha in the ongoing Phase 3. (ANI)
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