Bengal civic polls: TMC worker first casualty

An explosion near a polling booth at Titagarh on Saturday. (Express photo)

Indrajit Singh — a Trinamool Congress worker — became the first casualty of the second and final phase of the elections to 91 civic bodies across West Bengal, which was marred by incidents of violence, bombings, alleged booth capture and proxy voting. Just like the first phase of polls, held for Kolkata Municipal Corporation, majority of the complaints were against the ruling party.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who is also the home minister, had assured free and fair elections.

Apart from Singh, who died on the spot after being shot in the chest from point blank range, at least three others sustained gunshot injuries while a policeman was hurt when he was hit by a bomb splinter even as State Election Commission said that 69 per cent polling had been recorded till 3 pm.

As per Burdwan District Magistrate Saumitra Mohan TMC worker Indrajit Singh was shot at a polling booth under Ward 14 near Katwa bus stand in the district. The DM said he has sought a report from the polling officials. He also recommended repolling in six wards in Katwa.

Superintendent of Police Kunal Agarwal said 11 Congress workers were arrested in Katwa in connection with the killing —- three from the spot with firearms and eight from nearby houses. Fifty bombs were also recovered.

Trinamool Burdwan district president Swapan Debnath claimed that Singh was shot dead by Congress workers while trying to prevent booth jamming. Congress MLA from Katwa, Rabindranath Chattopadhyay, however, alleged that it was the TMC supporters who had resorted to booth capturing by exploding bombs since 7 am when the polling began.

In other incidents, a Congress worker, Pinto Karmakar, was shot at near a booth in Ward 17. It was also alleged that electronic voting machine (EVM) was looted from the booth at Govindachand Primary School under Ward 8 in Katwa.

In Ward 4 of Memari municipality, a clash between Trinamool and Congress supporters halted the election process at Sultanpur Free Primary School booth for some time. At Ward 4 in the same municipality some men attacked TMC candidate Swapan Ghosal.

Presiding Officer of Booth 217 under Kharagpur Municipality in West Midnapore lodged a police complaint against unidentified armed men for firing several rounds in the air to intimidate voters. No one has been arrested. Rival parties indulged in firing at Ward 33 of Chandannagar Municipality halting the polling for some time.

Police said a 55-year-old man sustained bullet injury at Titagarh in North 24 Parganas district while he was standing in a queue before a polling booth.

Source:: Indian Express