Ahead of the upcoming second phase of the West Bengal Assembly polls, a total of 1,095 preventive arrests were conducted by the state and Kolkata police along with central paramilitary forces in various areas of the state within the last 24 hours. The office of the state Chief Electoral Officer reported that a total of 1,583 preventive arrests were made in the past 36 hours. These arrests targeted individuals with a history of involvement in election-related violence to prevent any disturbances during the elections.
The arrests were carried out based on the individuals’ past records, identifying them as potential trouble-makers. Notably, Narugopal Bhakat, the Trinamool Congress Councillor of Ward 22 in Burdwan town, was among those preventively arrested. District-wise, the highest number of arrests occurred in East Burdwan district with 479 arrests, followed by North 24 Parganas with 319, South 24 Parganas with 246, Kolkata (Uttar) with 109, Hooghly with 49, and Nadia and Howrah with 32 arrests each.
In addition to the preventive arrests, four individuals were arrested in connection with a clash between Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Trinamool Congress activists in Jagatdal, North 24 Parganas district. The arrested individuals were identified as Koushik Das, Sikander Prasad, Gopal Routh, and Shyamdev Shaw. The Election Commission of India had emphasized the identification and preventive arrest of potential trouble-makers to maintain peace and security before, during, and after the polls.
The ruling Trinamool Congress had raised concerns about the possible arrests of 200 party leaders and workers, leading to an approach to the Calcutta High Court. However, a division bench of Chief Justice Sujoy Paul and Justice Partha Sarathi Sen ruled on April 22 that preventive arrests could be conducted in accordance with the relevant laws.
