Kolkata: On Thursday, a sensational newsbreak came to the light from Raiganj in West Bengal. It was learned that when some of the Hindus went to cast their vote in the morning, they were informed by the poll officials that their votes had already been cast. Voters in the constituency are being discriminated against on religious lines as voting progressed in the second phase of Lok Sabha Elections.

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The report states that rampant proxy-voting has taken place in the area. Some Hindus have alleged that they were stopped from going near the polling booth by groups of Muslim men and had their voter ids snatched away. Others claimed that bogus votes in their names had already been cast when they reached the polling station in the morning. According to the reports from Times Now and eyewitness accounts, voters belonging to the Hindu religion were stopped from casting their votes by some Muslim men and their voter identity cards were also taken away.

The first polling officer who is also the identification officer was unable to offer any answer on how such level of proxy voting took place. The presiding officer has reportedly claimed that it is not his responsibility to confirm the identities of the voters. The voters, while showing their voter slips and ink-less fingers, alleged that they were stopped from voting because they would have voted for the BJP. One of the villagers said: “I was stopped from going to the polling booth. Four to five Muslim men tried to beat me and damage my bicycle. They said you are from the BJP and asked me to run away.” 

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