4 Trinamool workers killed ahead of Bengal panchayat polls, blame-game begins

Four workers from Trinamool Congress (TMC) were killed on Friday, while those from Congress and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) alleged.

They were attacked by rival parties, hours before polling for the West Bengal panchayat elections began.

Polling began at 7 am on Saturday amid tight security for the West Bengal panchayat elections, in which about 5.67 crore people living in the state’s rural areas are eligible to vote, officials said.

In Murshidabad district, one of the worst affected due to violence, TMC worker Babar Ali was killed in Kapasdanga area. He was declared brought dead when he was brought to Murshidabad Medical College and Hospital in Baharampur.

A TMC worker was killed in a crude bomb blast in Rejinagar in Murshidabad district on Friday. Another Trinamool worker was stabbed to death in Khargram in the district.

Trinamool booth president Devkumar Rai from East Midnapore’s Sonachura Gram Panchayat was allegedly attacked by BJP worker Subal Manna and his aides.

In Jalpaiguri, a Trinamool candidate was allegedly attacked by BJP workers.

The TMC hit out at the opposition parties who were clamouring for the deployment of central forces in the state amid the violence.

Meanwhile, in Cooch Behar, a TMC booth committee chairman, identified as Ganesh Sarkar, was stabbed to death in Rampur. The incident occurred late last night. Sarkar was rushed to a hospital in Alipurduar, where he was declared brought dead.

In another incident of poll violence, Communist Party of India (Marxist) activist Hafizur Rahman was injured after he was shot at. The incident took place in Okrabari village in Cooch Behar district.

Rahman was the uncle of Congress alliance candidate Ansar Ali.

A TMC worker was allegedly attacked by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers in Gazna Gram Panchayat in Nadia district without any provocation. The accused — Biswanath Ghosh, Goutam Ghosh, Amit Ghosh, Bharat Ghosh, Debkumar Ghosh and Labkumar Ghosh — have been identified by police.

In Narayanpur-1 Gram Panchayat, a TMC candidate’s husband was allegedly attacked by CPI(M) workers. The TMC has alleged that CPI(M) activists fired at the husband of Hasina Sultana, just before the commencement of polling.

A total of 2.06 lakh candidates are in the fray for elections to 73,887 seats in the three-tier panchayat system in the state, they said.

Sporadic incidents of violence were reported across the state after the election dates were announced on June 8, resulting in the deaths of over 15 people.

There are 63,229 gram panchayat seats and 9,730 panchayat samiti seats in 22 districts, while 928 zilla parishad seats in 20 districts as Darjeeling and Kalimpong have a two-tier system with Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) and Siliguri Sub-divisional Council at the top.

At least 600 companies of central forces have been deployed for the elections along with around 70,000 state police.

In the last panchayat elections in 2018, the TMC bagged around 34 per cent of the seats uncontested, and won 90 per cent of the rest, amid allegations of violence.