Kolkata: The Trinamool Congress Sunday alleged that the central forces were "brutally torturing" and "intimidating" voters in West Bengal and acting as per orders of BJP leaders.

In a statement, Trinamool Congress lawmaker Derek O' Brien said, Bengal wants peaceful polling, which BJP doesn't.

"Today, in Bengal, central forces are brutally torturing and intimidating common citizens, especially the marginalised. Even physically handicapped persons are being tortured. Central forces are also threatening voters 'kamal dabao nahin toh thok dega' (vote for BJP or will shoot you)," he said.

"Media has all these videos. Many are already in the public domain," he added.

The BJP termed the allegations baseless and said it was goons supported by the TMC who were trying to intimidate voters.

In Delhi, BJP leader and Union minister Nirmala Sitharaman also urged the poll body to order the central forces to remain in Bengal till the Model Code of Conduct is in place, as it expressed concern that the TMC may target a section of voters after polling is over.

An estimated 49.70 per cent of over 1.49 crore electorate exercised their franchise till 1 pm in nine Lok Sabha constituencies of West Bengal on Sunday, amid reports of EVM glitches and stray incidents of violence.

Polling is currently underway in Kolkata North, Kolkata South, Dum Dum, Barasat, Basirhat, Jadavpur, Diamond Harbour, Joynagar (SC) and Mathurapur (SC) in the seventh and final phase of the staggered general elections.

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New Delhi (PTI): A total of 23,058 people, comprising 9,482 men and 13,576 women, were reported missing in Delhi in 2024, according to the latest National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).

Of the total, 5,491 were children below the age of 18 — 1,571 boys, 3,920 girls.

The city recorded 17,567 fresh adult missing persons cases in 2024, comprising 7,911 men and 9,656 women.

According to the NCRB data, released on Wednesday, 14,637 men, 18,238 women and six transgender persons were still missing from previous years.

At the latest count, in 2024, Delhi had a total of 55,939 missing persons cases — 24,119 men, 31,814 women and six transgender persons.

In 2024, police traced or collected 28,392 missing persons, including 12,182 men, 16,208 women and two transgender persons.

Only half of the men and half of the women who went missing could be traced.

A total of 27,547 missing persons – 11,937 men, 15,606 women, four transgender persons — were yet to be untraced by the end of the year, the data showed.

The data also revealed that 5,352 children from previous years remained untraced at the beginning of 2024.

The number of still missing boys was 1,621, and the number of missing girls was 3,729. Two transgender children were yet to be found.

After adding the pending cases from previous years, the total number of missing children cases handled in 2024 rose to 10,843.

The police traced or recovered 6,762 missing children — 2,030 boys, 4,732 girls.

The recovery rate stood at 63.6 per cent for boys and 61.9 per cent for girls, while no transgender child was traced.

By the end of 2024, a total of 4,081 children remained untraced, 1,162 of them boys, 2,917 girls, and two transgender children.