Amidst reports of violence from different parts of West Bengal in connection to ensuing panchayat polls, one person was killed and three were injured after a crude bomb went off in State’s Murshidabad district on Saturday.
Alim Biswas, a resident of Beldanga was declared dead at a local hospital. The three others injured were being treated for injuries at a local health facility. Locals alleged that the explosion occurred when bombs were being assembled at a desolate place surrounded by jute fields. Several crude bombs were recovered from the site by the bomb disposal squad of the police.
Murshidabad has been on the boil since the notification for panchayat polls was issued on June 8. Two people have been killed in the district since June 8 and after the death on Saturday three persons have been killed. The tool in the State since June 8 has increased to 10.
In another development five people, including a Congress panchayat candidate were arrested from Margram police station area in the adjoining Birbhum district. Chamatkar Seikh, a Congress candidate in Hassan-II gram panchayat was among those who was arrested allegedly for assembling crude bombs.
Violence was reported from Raninagar in Murshidabad district, where the house of a Congress candidate Kudus Ali was attacked allegedly by Trinamool Congress supporters.. Earlier in the day three persons sustained minor injuries after crude bombs were hurled during a clash between Trinamool and Congress activists in the same area.
Supporters of the CPI(M) suffered injuries at Baduria in North 24 Parganas and blamed the ruling party for the attack. At Gosaba supporters of Revolutionary Socialist Party, a constituent of Left Front alleged the attack and a few persons were hospitalised.
State Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said that Trinamool Congress leadership along with the support of administration is targeting Congress candidates either by attacking their houses and arresting candidates with cooked up cases.
Governor C. V. Ananda Bose, who had expressed concerns over the violence spoke to the family of Trinamool Congress leader Dhananjay Chaubey who was shot dead outside the party office in Adra town on Thursday evening.
State Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Sukanta Majumdar visited Sandeshkhali and Kultali in State’s South 24 Parganas and alleged that party supporters who have decided to contest panchayat polls are facing threats and intimidation by the ruling party supporters. Mr. Majumdar said that in places where central forces are not being deployed the party supporters will play the role of central forces.
Waiting for more forces says SEC
State Election Commissioner Rajiva Sinha said that the Commission has not got the number of forces it has requisitioned by the Centre. “If we do not get it (adequate forces), we will take action tomorrow,” Mr. Sinha said.
The Commission had requisitioned 22 companies at the first instance and after the Calcutta High Court order on June 21 it had requisitioned another 800 companies of central. The Centre has issued directions to deploy 315 companies of central forces in the State. Central forces have already started reaching and conducting area domination exercises in violence affected parts of the state including Bhangar in South 24 Parganas where violence had claimed three lives. Panchayat elections on 73,000 seats across 62,000 booths will be held in the State on July 8.
