The third and final phase of West Bengal panchayat polls 2008 turned out be bloodier than the first two, with 15 people killed
KOLKATA: The third and final phase of West Bengal panchayat polls 2008 turned out be bloodier than the first two, with 15 people killed, 14 of them in Murshidabad alone, on Sunday.
The state administration apprehends the death figure could rise further, as the condition of several injured is very critical.
With Sunday’s addition, the poll toll so far this election goes up to 23.
Murshidabad, the Indo-Bangla border district, justified its notoriety as one of the most violent places during polls, experiencing day-long armed clashes between Congress and CPI(M) supporters. In the last panchayat polls in 2003, 13 people were killed in the district.
One of the people attacked at Nanur in Birbhum district in pre-poll violence on Saturday night died on Sunday morning.
On Sunday, the Domkol belt of Murshidabad saw blood spilling in ample measure with six people dying in poll-related violence. Of the six, three, including a woman, were unbiased voters trapped in cross-firing and bomb throwing between CPI(M) and Congress supporters. Among the other three killed, two were CPI(M) supporters and one Congress supporter. Around 40 people have been admitted to hospital at Domkol and the condition of most of them is quite critical.
At Jalangi and Raninagar in Murshidabad two more persons died. While the Jalangi victim was a CPI(M) supporter, the one killed in Raninagar was a Congress member.
The Congress supporters in Murshidabad also attacked the vehicle of the district magistrate and an inspector general of police and threw crude bombs. IG (law & order) Raj Kanojia said around 110 people were arrested in the state on Sunday, most of them from Murshidabad.
Surprisingly, polling was peaceful in the sensitive belts of Dinhata in Cooch Behar, Alipurduar in Jalpaiguri and Balurghat in South Dinajpur, where political observers had apprehended clashes between Left Front allies the CPI(M), RSP and the All-India Forward Bloc.
r_sumanta@dnaindia.net
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