Bengal Panchayat polls: 50.53% turnout till 3 pm; 13 killed in poll violence

Kolkata, July 8 The panchayat elections in West Bengal recorded voter turnout of 50.33 per cent till 3 p.m. on Thursday, with as many as 13 persons losing their lives in poll-related violence across the state.  

The highest number of deaths has been reported from Murshidabad district at four, followed by two deaths each in Malda, Cooch Behar and East Burdwan districts, while Nadia, South 24 Parganas and North Dinajpur districts reported one casualty each.

With this, a total of 32 persons have lost their lives in poll-related violence since the announcement of polling date on June 8.

However, according to the State Election Commissioner Rajiva Sinha, the death toll on polling day till 3 p.m. was three.

“The security forces are taking action wherever there are complaints of malpractices. The decision of re-polling, if any, will be taken only after the review of the situation at the end of the polls,” Sinha told reporters.

Reports of heckling and beating up of polling staff also came from different parts of the state. The joint forum of state government employees has blamed the “utter mismanagement” on part of the State Election Commission for the plight of the polling officials.

“Since the beginning we have been claiming that the safety of the polling staff cannot be ensured without proper deployment of central armed forces. But on the polling day, the on-ground presence of the central forces was hardly visible.

"The Commission has failed miserably in ensuring the safety of the polling staff as per the order of the Calcutta High Court. So we have decided to file a contempt petition against the State Election Commissioner and other officials of the poll panel at the Calcutta High Court,” said joint forum convener Bhaskar Ghosh.

Meanwhile, Union minister Anurag Thakur has posted a tweet asking why Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is not satisfied without violence, bloodbath and violence in any election.

“What is her compulsion? The slaughter of democracy starts since the polling dates are announced. They are ready to go to any extent to win the polls,” Thakur tweeted.

--IANS

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