Suvendu Adhikari moves Calcutta HC seeking CBI probe in poll violence

Kolkata, July 11 The leader of the opposition in West Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari on Tuesday filed a petition at the Calcutta High Court demanding a CBI probe in the poll-related violence during the panchayat elections.

A similar petition was filed by the state Congress chief and five- time party Lok Sabha member Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Monday. Both the petitions have been admitted by the division bench of Calcutta High Court's Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharya. Both the matters will come up for hearing on Wednesday.

Already 39 persons have become victims of the poll- related violence since the election dates were announced on June 8. While the leader of the opposition was filing the petition at the Calcutta High Court, incidents of massive violence, clashes and ballot paper looting and destruction were being reported from different pockets in the state.

Justice Sivagnanam on Monday expressed ire over the continuing violence and the tendency of authorities to pass on the back as regards to ensuring free and fair polls. "One is blaming the other. The other is blaming someone else. What is the point of passing so many orders by us then?" the Chief Justice has questioned.

Meanwhile, as per the trend of counting available till 1 p.m.on Tuesday, the trend shows that Trinamool Congress was well ahead of the opposition in all the three- tiers of the panchayat system, despite facing tough contests.

At gram panchayat level, Trinamool Congress has already won or is ahead (figure includes uncontested seats) 10,647 seats, followed by BJP at 576, CPI(M) at 370, Congress at 226 and others including independents at 193.

At Panchayat Samiti level Trinamool Congress has already won or is ahead in 981 and others at ten. CPI(M) or Congress are yet to set a mark at this level as of now. At zilla parishad level, Trinamool Congress has already won or is ahead in 16 seats.