Stray incidents of violence were reported from West Bengal's Cooch Behar constituency on Thursday in which an EVM was smashed and an opposition candidate was heckled and his car damaged.
Motorbike borne youths moved around in groups close to booths and clashes were reported between BJP and Trinamool workers.
However, there were no fatalities, and nobody sustained any serious injury, with the special police observer describing polling as "peaceful and fair".
In Mathabahnaga, alleged Trinamool-backed miscreants heckled All India Forward Bloc candidate Gobinda Roy and smashed the windshield of his vehicle after he arrived at the booth following allegations of false voting.
At Sitalkuchi, some women voters complained that they were being prevented from exercising their rights by Trinamool-backed miscreants, with the police remaining silent spectatorS. The Trinamool, however, denied the allegation.
However, bulk of the allegations and incidents of violence were reported from Dinhata assembly segment.
A TV grab showed a couple of injured Trinamool booth level workers in Dinhata, and the ruling party blamed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the violence.
Another serious incident took place at Singamari Vivekananda SK centre, where around 150-200 youths forced their way into a booth while polling was on.
They pushed aside the two armed state police personnel and the polling officials, picked up the EVM, VVPAT and other machines and smashed them into pieces. The mob left after damging the furniture.
The polling officials seemed panick-stricken hours after the incident.
"We told the boys not to break the machines and that if they had any grievances they could always ask for a repoll. But they paid no heed."
The two armed police personnel said they tried their best, but were vastly outnumbered. "Things happened so fast that despite our best efforts to protect the machines, we coudn't do anything," said one policeman.
The BJP blamed ruling Trinamool, which, however, held the saffron party responsible for the violence.
At Gorchura Primary School booth in Dinhata, there was commotion after BJP candidate Nisith Pramanik reached the polling premises on receiving complaints that outsiders were trying to rig the elections.
Trinamool and BJP workers clashed at Dinhata's Rosmonda primary school booth, following allegations that the Trinamool workers were beating and driving away voters.
Trinamool district president and state North Bengal Affairs Minister Rabindranath Ghosh moved around in parts of the constituency supervising the party's well-oiled polling machinery.
Ghosh lashed out against the central forces for exceeding their mandate, particularly for entering the polling booth when he was voting.
In Kolkata, additional chief electoral officer Sanjay Basu said the commission has received reports of a "few isolated incidents" in Cooch Behar.
"We have received reports of a few isolated incidents in Cooch Behar. We are looking into all the allegations. We will take proper legal action," Basu said.
--IANS
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