Despite the Calcutta High Court\u2019s stern directive that the Bengal government would be held responsible for any damage caused to life and property during the panchayat poll on Monday, May 14, several incidents of violence were reported from nearly every part of the state, claiming 12 lives. The Ministry of Home Affairs has sought a report from the West Bengal government.<\/p>\n
A couple, Debu Das and Usha Das, both CPM supporters was charred to death by alleged Trinamool Congress goons in Kakdwip of South 24 Paganas district. However, the ruling party denied its involvement, saying the incident had nothing to do with the elections, but was a result of short circuit.<\/p>\n
In Natabari area of Cooch Behar district, television footage showed that north Bengal Development minister of the state, Rabindranath Ghosh slapped a BJP agent during the election outside a booth. However, the minister denied this, and instead, alleged that a BJP worker was trying to snatch the ballot box. At least 20 people were injured as a result of the violence in this district alone till\u00a0noon.<\/p>\n
Opposition parties alleged that the ruling party was looting votes, jamming voting centres and preventing people from casting votes. They also alleged the police and the SEC were acting as mum spectators. Attackers even thrashed police in several places.<\/p>\n
South Bengal witnessed much more violence, and police had to shell tear gas in Bhangar of South 24 Paganas district to disperse miscreants. TMC goons were reportedly carrying guns inside booths in various pockets of East Midnapore, South 24 Parganas and several areas. Crude bombs were recovered from West Midnapore\u2019s Keshpur area.<\/p>\n
TMC goons allegedly charred a ballot box in Rajganj area of Jalpaiguri district while BJP workers poured water into the ballot boxes in Rajarhat for alleged booth jam by the ruling party. In Murshidabad\u2019s Beldanga, alleged Trinamool Congress workers broke ballot boxes to count their vote share in front the voting officers.<\/p>\n
Krishnapada Sarkar, a villager, was killed in Tehatta area of Nadia district when he was caught in the middle of clashes. Another two persons were in Amdanga of North 24 Parganas district and Beldaga in Murshidabad.<\/p>\n
Trinamool Congress supporters were attacked in several pockets too. In Kultali area of South 24 Parganas district, a Trinamool supporter Ariful Gazi was killed allegedly by SUCI supporters while another Trinamool supporter Bhola Dafarder was killed in Nakashipara of Nadia district on his way home after casting vote. In Shantipur, twenty-seven-year old Sanjit Pramanik succumbed to bullet injury.<\/p>\n
Trinamool Congress leader Partha Chatterjjee, however, denied any major violence took place during the day and termed it \u201cpeaceful\u201d. He also praised the administration for taking quick action wherever any violence took place.<\/p>\n
State food and supplies minister, Jyotipriyo Mullick, rubbished the allegations and said, \u201cBJP brought goons from Bangladesh to create tension and violence\u201d. BJP state president, Dilip Ghosh, refuted such claims.<\/p>\n
Panchayat elections are on for nearly 58,000 seats in which the ruling party, Trinamool Congress has already bagged 34 per cent seats uncontested. Around 60,000 security personnel were deployed throughout the state.<\/p>\n
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MHA has sought a report from the Bengal government.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":279,"featured_media":558,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,6],"tags":[],"tmauthors":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-557","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-bengal","8":"category-politics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/279"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=557"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=557"},{"taxonomy":"tmauthors","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tmauthors?post=557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}