Day after Bengal panchayat poll violence, SEC orders repoll in around 700 booths, death toll 17

According to the SEC, repolling will be held in 175 booths in Murshidabad district, which reported the most number of violent incidents.

Other districts where repolling has been ordered are Malda (110 booths); Nadia (89); Cooch Behar (53); North 24 Parganas (46); North Dinajpur (42); South 24 Parganas (36); East Midnapore (31); Hooghly (29); South Dinajpur (18); Birbhum and Jalpaiguri (14 each); West Midnapore (10); Howrah and Bankura (8 each); West Burdwan (6); Purulia (4); East Burdwan (3); and Alipurduar (1). The number of booths where repolling will be held account for a little more than 1 per cent of the total 61,636 polling booths in the state.

During the polling on Saturday, The Indian Express reported how South 24 Parganas and North 24 Parganas were gripped by waves of fear and violence throughout the day. There were instances of door-to-door intimidation, barricading Opposition candidates and voters; blockaded villages; missing Opposition agents, and crude bomb blasts.

The decision to hold the repolling was taken after the SEC examined reports submitted by the district authorities, officials said.

Earlier in the day, sporadic incidents of clashes, arson and vandalism were reported from some parts of the state. Clashes were reported from Samserganj and Raninagar in Murshidabad district. There were also allegations of an attack on Congress workers and supporters in Murshidabad’s Beldanga.

West Bengal Pradesh Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury alleged that the Union Ministry of Home Affairs deliberately sent central forces late to the state to help the Trinamool Congress in the election. Speaking to reporters at Nowda in Murshidabad district, where he met the family of a party worker who died, Chowdhury said, “The Central force was late to arrive in Bengal under the instructions of the Union Home Minister and the BJP. They have an understanding with the Trinamool in West Bengal and that is the reason the central forces arrived late. They gave the Trinamool the opportunity to loot votes. This is because, in the future, Didi (Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee) will play the role of a ‘gaddar’ to break the proposed Opposition front.”

Police sources said candidates of the ruling Trinamool Congress and independents clashed in Hiranandpur area of Samserganj in the morning during which crude bombs were used. It was alleged that houses of some supporters of both sides were vandalised. The police later brought the situation under control.

The Congress alleged that Trinamool supporters ransacked and vandalised houses of its party workers in Beldanga through the night on Saturday. In protest, Congress workers blocked National Highway 34 in front of Beldanga police station around 10 am. Superintendent of Police Surinder Singh said, “Overall situation is under control.”

In Chakranpara village of Raninagar, the Trinamool alleged that Congress workers entered the houses of its party workers and assaulted them. Four injured Trinamool workers were taken to the local Godhanpara primary health centre. The condition of one of them was critical, the Trinamool said. The Congress, however, denied the Trinamool’s allegations. A police picket was set up in the village.

Meanwhile, alleging that they were not allowed to vote, BJP workers blocked National Highway 31 in Rampur area of North Dinajpur district. The BJP claimed that Trinamool workers took over the booths and indulged in rigging. The Trinamool denied the allegation.

State BJP chief Sukanta Majumdar, who went to Rampur on Sunday, said, “The situation here is terrible. Common people were not allowed to vote. We have requested the police to set up pickets in the area.” Trinamool North Dinajpur district president Kanhaiyalal Aggarwal said, “This incident has nothing to do with politics. This is about local issues.”

The toll meanwhile climbed to 17, with the death of four more people who were injured in Saturday’s clashes, officials said. Among the dead 11 are workers of the ruling Trinamool Congress, two each from the CPI(M) and Congress and one from the BJP. One of those dead had no political affiliation.

Sources meanwhile identified the four who died on Sunday as Abu Salem Khan (48), Matiur Rahman (45), Noor Amin Minya and Azhar Lashkar. While Noor Amin was a Trinamool candidate, the other three were workers of the party.

Abu Salem was injured in a clash in Kultali, South 24 Parganas, towards the end of the polling process on Saturday. He had come from a neighboring village on hearing allegations that BJP workers were occupying a booth. When he tried to intervene, he was assaulted and then shot at, his party workers alleged.

The BJP countered the allegations, saying it was the Trinamool that was occupying the booths, and the villagers were protesting when the incident took place. It alleged that several people, including a woman candidate of a BJP zilla parishad, were injured in this incident.

In Bhagbanpur area of Malda’s Vaishnavnagar, Matiur Rahman suffered serious injuries when Congress supporters allegedly attacked him. At least six people were injured in the fight in front of the polling station. Rahman died on Sunday.

Trinamool candidate for Gangarampur Panchayat Samiti Noor Amin, who was admitted to a hospital in the South Dinajpur district on Saturday, died of bullet injuries. He was attacked by a group of people, who allegedly tried to loot ballot boxes after polling in the evening. Another TMC worker, Azhar Lashkar, who was injured during violence in South Dinajpur’s Basanti area, died at the state-run SSKM Hospital in Kolkata.