West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's helicopter made an emergency landing at the Sevoke air base near Siliguri on Tuesday afternoon due to bad weather.
After addressing an election rally in Jalpaiguri, Banerjee was on the way to the Bagdogra airport. Her helicopter was caught in bad weather while flying over the Baikunthapur forest, said officials.
"It was raining very heavily here, and the pilot decided to make an emergency landing," an official told PTI.
Due to the bad weather and incessant rains across the state, Banerjee decided to travel by road to Bagdogra airport and then fly back to Kolkata.
India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted heavy rains in several states.
Ahead of the panchayat elections in July, Banerjee was campaigning in several areas including parts of north West Bengal.
While addressing the rally in Jalpaiguri, she said that BSF must work impartially as the BJP “may not be in power tomorrow”.
"The next Lok Sabha polls will be held in February-March next year. The tenure of the BJP government is just six months. Sensing defeat, the BJP is not trying to lobby various groups and communities," she said.
Banerjee has accused the BSF of intimidating voters in the bordering areas on behalf of the BJP.
Political unrest and violence prevailed in West Bengal ahead of the panchayat elections. Calcutta High Court has directed the State Election Commission (SEC) to send a requisition to the Centre to deploy central forces to restore peace in the areas. On the last day for filing nomination papers on Thursday, electoral violence escalated in West Bengal leaving three dead and several others injured.
Incidents of violence were reported in Bhangar of South 24 Pargana and Chopra of North Dinajpur.
The violence triggered a political slugfest between the Opposition CPI(M), Congress, BJP and the ruling TMC.
The state's three-tier panchayat election encompassing a significant electorate of approximately 5.67 crores, will exercise their franchise to choose representatives for nearly 75,000 seats in zilla parishads, panchayat samiti and gram panchayats.