Thrash CPI-M agent, Trinamool leader caught saying

Kolkata, April 30  Trinamool Congress candidate Sonali Guha on Saturday landed in a controversy after she was shown on TV telling someone over the phone to "beat and drive away the CPI-M agent" from a polling booth.

Guha, who is contesting from Satgachia constituency in the ongoing West Bengal assembly polls, made the controversial comment in relation to an electronic voting machine (EVM) that she complained had been malfunctioning.

"The EVM here has been malfunctioning; it has been more than an hour that polling has been stopped because of that, but the EC (Election Commission) has taken no action," she said.

Guha and her party colleagues protested against the alleged inaction of the Election Commission by a sit-in.

A little later, while talking over her mobile phone, Guha was shown by TV news channels as saying: "Mere baar kore dis CPM agentder ekdom, ora EVM kharap kore rekhe dia che. (Beat and drive out the CPI-M agent from the booth, they have done something to the EVM).

The CPI-M and Congress condemned the remarks and demanded Guha be arrested immediately.

Guha is the deputy speaker of the outgoing West Bengal Assembly.