Situation tense after BJP TMC clash in Cooch Behar’s Mathabhanga

PTI ,April 13, 2026, Kolkata : Personnel of central forces and police were deployed in large numbers in Mathabhanga area of Coocbehar district on Monday following clashes between activists of the BJP and the TMC the previous night.

Both sides traded allegations of attacks on their leaders and workers during the election campaign at Mathabhanga when BJP candidate Nisith Adhikari was campaigning.

Elections will be held in the constituency on April 23.

On Sunday evening, tension escalated in Ward No. 5 of Mathabhanga Municipality when the car of BJP candidate and former union minister Nisith Pramanik’s rally allegedly came under attack, a senior police official said Monday.

The TMC claimed that the local councillor Chandrashekhar Rai Basunia was assaulted during the clash and received serious injuries on his face.

The TMC further alleged that BJP workers ransacked a temporary TMC party office in the area.

However, blaming TMC for the skirmishes, local BJP leaders claimed that miscreants linked to the TMC targeted party workers during Pramanik’s rally, leading to sporadic violence in the area.

The ruling party, however, denied the charge and accused BJP supporters of provoking the unrest.

In a related incident, the vehicle of BJP candidate of the adjacent Sitalkuchi assembly seat, Sabitri Barman, was vandalised in Sitalkuchi on the night of April 12 as the car was passing by Mathabhanga police station on the night of April 12.

The official said the police personnel, accompanied by central forces, chased away the supporters of both TMC and BJP and brought the situation under control.

Both Adhikari and Barman were unscathed in the attacks on their cars, the official said.

Security has been stepped up in sensitive pockets of Mathabhanga and adjoining areas as a result.

The official said personnel of the central paramilitary force and police were patrolling the sensitive pockets of Mathabhanga and Sitalkuchi on Monday night.