On Thursday, on polling day in Lakhisarai, the convoy of Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Sinha was attacked and there were reports that stones and slippers had been thrown at his car by a group of protestors. Reports said that the incident occurred when Sinha, also the BJP candidate of the constituency, had entered Khoriari village with his convoy. Mob was said to have attempted to prevent his entry into the village, shouting slogans of Murdabad, as the situation intensified.
On-site images depicted the presence of a large crowd on the side of the road, and some of the people threw items at the convoy. Sinha was promptly covered by police and other security personnel who went ahead to control the situation and secure his safety. Sinha went on with his visit to the polling areas despite the attack, where he talked to the media soon after the incident.
Demonstrating against the attack Sinha accused the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) to arrange the violence. “These are RJD goons. They are agitated by the coming back to power of NDA. The goons are refusing to permit me to go to the village. They even prevented the voting of my polling agent. And this is good, old-fashioned hooliganism, I said. He further stated that the event took place in the booths 404 and 405 of Khoriari village.
There was a video circulated in social media where some of the villagers could be heard screaming that they were protesting over the deplorable state of roads in the locality. Nevertheless, Sinha insisted that the attack was politically induced which was aimed at intimidating the voters and disrupting the polling exercise.
Police have also allegedly initiated an inquiry into the case, and other security has been deployed in sensitive polling constituencies of Lakhisarai in Bihar. Political outrage has also followed the incident with the BJP leaders insisting that serious measures should be taken against the offenders in the assault.