Hooghly, 21 January (H.S.): The Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Wednesday staged a violent protest in Balagarh of Hooghly district over the alleged misuse of Form-7, blocking the STKK Road in front of the Block Development Officer (BDO) office and disrupting traffic for several hours. During the protest, demonstrators burned effigies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

Trinamool workers staged a sit-in on the road. The effigies were first beaten with shoes and slippers before being set on fire. The protest completely disrupted traffic on the STKK Road.

The Trinamool Congress's minority cell alleged that thousands of Form-7s have been filled out and submitted in the names of minority voters in the Balagarh area. There are fears that the names of these voters will be removed from the electoral rolls. They also fear that these voters will be harassed under the pretext of hearings.

This protest was organized in opposition to these actions. Former MLA Asim Majhi, current Zilla Parishad members Runa Khatun and Pooja Dhar, Core Committee members Naveen Gangopadhyay, Shyamaprasad Roy Bandyopadhyay, and Sanjay Das were present at the protest, along with the Balagarh Block Trinamool leadership.

Mir Jasimuddin, president of the Balagarh Minority Cell, alleged that Form-7s have been selectively submitted in the names of Trinamool supporters. He demanded to know who submitted these forms and how. He alleged that the BJP is conspiring to remove the names of genuine voters and that the Election Commission is colluding in this.

Mir Jasimuddin also said that a written complaint has been filed at the police station against the concerned parties.

Meanwhile, Bhaskar Bhattacharya, in-charge of the Hooghly organizational district of the Bharatiya Janata Party, reacting to the issue, told Hindusthan Samachar that the Trinamool Congress is acting against the constitution. He said the Election Commission needs to be more stringent. The state BJP leader said, The Trinamool leader does not respect the Election Commission, snatches files from central investigating agencies, and disregards the courts. Her leaders and workers are also following in her footsteps. The Trinamool Congress people are scared that the names of the fake voters, on whose strength they have been winning elections so far, will now be removed from the voter list. The Election Commission needs to be even stricter.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Priyanka Pandey