Former West Bengal minister Madan Mitra on Thursday said he lost the 2016 assembly election because a section of police was "hyperactive" during the polls.
"I have submitted a report to the Chief Minister (Mamata Banerjee) that a section of police including deputy commissioner, assistant commissioner of Barrackpore police commissionerate and inspector in - charge of Belgharia police station were hyperactive.
"They tortured genuine voters including women who were not allowed to cast their votes.
Innocent people were arrested 5 - 7 days prior to polls day, " he alleged while interacting with media persons here.
"Voting percentage was brought down by terrorising voters, " he said.
The only former state minister to have contested the polls from jail, Mitra failed to retain Kamarahati constituency in North 24 Parganas, going down to Communist Party of India - Marxist's Manas Mukherjee by over 4, 000 votes.
Jailed in the multi - crore rupee Saradha scam, the former transport and sports minister also featured in the Narada sting operation which purportedly showed over a dozen Trinamool bigwigs accepting bundles of cash as bribe for favouring a fictitious company.
Arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation in December 2014, Mitra is one of the most high - profile casualties for the Trinamool Congress even as the party stormed to a landslide victory in the state.
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