2 Trinamool workers killed in poll-related violence in Bengal, toll reaches 20

The toll in election-related violence in West Bengal reached 20 on Sunday morning after a Trinamool Congress worker was stabbed to death in Malda.

The incident happened in Baishnavnagar on Saturday night after the election. According to sources, the victim identified as Matiur Rahman, an active TMC worker, had come to cast his vote at a polling station when some men surrounded him and stabbed him to death. The ruling TMC has blamed the opposition party Congress for the murder.

Six others were also injured during the clash and police have launched an investigation into the matter.

Among those killed include 62-year-old Ajahar Lashkar, an active TMC worker, who was injured in a clash in Basanti and succumbed to his injuries at SSKM hospital late last night. A clash broke out between the TMC and the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) in Basanti, South 24 Parganas, in which ten people were injured. Lashkar died in hospital when he was undergoing treatment.

Violence rocked Bengal’s rural polls as voting ended on Saturday. At many places, ballot boxes were vandalized and bombs were thrown at rivals in a number of villages.

The incidents of widespread violence have sparked a heated war of words between the ruling TMC and the Bharatiya Janata Party, with the latter demanding a re-poll at several booths.

All parties in West Bengal levelled allegations against each other for the violence, even as the BJP called for President’s Rule to be imposed in the state.

State Election Commissioner (SEC) Rajiva Sinha on Saturday promised to look into complaints of vote tampering and to take a decision on possible re-polling in some booths after receiving reports from observers and returning officers.

With 30 dead since polls were announced earlier last month, this year’s bloodied election also closely followed the 2018 panchayat poll violence pattern when a similar number of people were left dead.