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| Poll and post-poll violence in Bengal claim 20 lives | | | Kolkatta | May 19
THE DANCE of death continued in the panchayat polls in West Bengal. Violence marred the last phase of the polls in Sunday with the violence spilling over to Monday. At the last count 20 people lost their lives as the polls concluded tainting the rural milieu red.
In terms of violence the third phase of the panchayat polling was the worst. Murshidabad district was the hub of the violence with most of the deaths occurring over Sunday and Monday. Many were injured, some critically. Bombs and arms came into play with astonishing frequency despite the presence of a large number of security forces. In this district, where the Congress has more muscle than the Communist Party of India- Marxists (CPI-M) and controls much of the rural administration, cadres of the two parties clashed right through Sunday (May 18) and even on Monday (May 19).
Of among the dead one person was from Nanur in in Birbhum district where bombs rained right through the night starting Saturday. On the day of the poll in Domkol in Murshidabad six people died during the polling. Such was the mindlessness of the cadres, desperate to post a victory, that three voters, including a woman, fell to incessant bomb throwing and firing between the two political parties. About 40 people were injured and taken to Domkal hospital.
Two persons died in Jalangi and Raninagar in Murshidabad. In Murshidabad where the Congress is led by its notorious MP Adhir Chowdhury, party cadres became emboldened enough to attack the cars of the district magistrate and an inspector general of police. They hurled bombs aiming at the vehicles.
The police arrested 110 people on Sunday of the polls most of them from Murshidabad.
Sporadic violence led to more deaths in the district. There were clashes between the CPI (M) and the Congress in Malda today and the BSF had to be called in.
The Left Front chairman and CPI (M) state Secretary Biman Bose was relieved that the clashes occurred with the opposition and not in house between the left allies as had happened in Basanti in South-24 Parganas. He squarely laid the blame on the door step of the Congress for the violence in Murshidabad.
Bose alleged that the Congress had planned violence in Murshidabad, but was thwarted in many places. In the other districts of North Bengal, where the CPI (M) had feared clashes between it and its allies, voting was by and large peaceful.
Repolling was held in several booths in Basanti today which had witnessed bouts of violence on April 14 leading to the death of three RSP workers and a CPI (M) local leader. To ensure that there was not more violence the Left Front despatched three ministers, the Irrigation Miister, Subhas Naskar of the RSP, CPI (M)'s minister for Sunderban Development Kanti Ganguly and another Marxist minister Rezzak Mollah. Voting was peaceful in the area. |
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