Minors Caught Proxy-Voting, Security Forces Heckled in WB’s Ghatal

One video shows minor boys admitting to proxy-voting, and the other shows jawans being threatened with violence.

A video screengrab showing one of the boys who admitted to voting for their older brothers by proxy in Ghatal, West Bengal.

(Photo: Screengrab/Edited by The Quint)

A video taken by paramilitary personnel outside polling booths 79 and 80 in West Bengal’s Ghatal shows two minor boys, with election ink on their fingers, admitting that they were sent by their family to cast votes on their older brothers’ behalf.

Questioned by a jawan, one of the boys confesses he is 17 years old and studies in Class 9, saying that the election slip he carries is his older brother’s. The black mark of the phosphoric ink is clearly visible on his left finger.

When asked who sent him, he promptly replies “Baba (Father).“

The second boy initially claims that he carries his own voter slip and that he is 18 years old – i.e. eligible to vote. However, when the jawans say that they will let him walk if he tells the truth, he says that he, too, is there to vote on behalf of his older brother.

In the end, the paramilitary personnel handed them their slips and let them walk away.

Paramilitary Personnel Threatened With Violence

The same day, in Ghatal, an unidentified paramilitary jawan filmed his colleagues surrounded by a restless mob in front of a polling station.

The mob allegedly consisted of TMC workers, who were threatening the paramilitary personnel with violence.

In the video of the incident, some men are seen shouting and making threatening gestures at the jawans in the video, as the polling booth officials are advised to go inside the building for safety.

The guard filming says towards the end, “Look at how this mob is coming to assault us. This is happening at booth number 89 and 88.”

The TMC, however, has alleged that the central forces in West Bengal are forcing people to vote for the BJP, and has filed a complaint with the Election Commission.

Their official handle put out this tweet:

The video shot is purportedly from the Bajuara primary school, which is one of the polling centres in the Ghatal sub district

This incident is the latest in a series of violent clashes that West Bengal has seen this election season.

Earlier in the day, Bharati Ghosh, BJP’s candidate from Ghatal, broke down after she was allegedly attacked and heckled at a polling booth by women "hired by the Trinamool Congress”. More on that story here.

BJP’s Barrackpore candidate Arjun Singh was also allegedly attacked by TMC workers on Monday. Before that, violence had broken out between Congress and TMC workers in Asansol.