KOLKATA: At least 15 people were killed and dozens injured in Bengal on Monday when mobs attacked polling centres to disrupt voting in the rural elections.
Till 5pm, the turnout stood at 72.5% with the Birbhum district recording the highest at 80.17%. State election commission secretary Nilanjan Sandilya said about 7 lakh voters were waiting in queues at polling stations as of 5pm, the deadline for voting.
Violence and allegations of election malpractice have marred the panchayat election process since nomination submissions were opened on April 2. In the weeks since, at least 32 people have been killed, including Monday’s deaths.
Opposition parties have accused the ruling Trinamool Congress of being behind the attacks and intimidating potential contestants, so much so that the issue reached the Supreme Court which has ordered the state election commission to hold off on the results for 20,000 constituencies where Trinamool was set to win unopposed.
To be sure, rural elections have routinely been deadly in Bengal. In 2013, 39 had died, with 14 of those deaths spread across the five days when polling took place.
On Monday, ballot boxes were seen being set afire and thrown in a pond. In one constituency, a man poured water in a ballot box.
The Union home ministry sought a report from the West Bengal government on the violence and the steps that were taken to contain it.
In Santipur of Nadia district, angry villagers set on fire 11 motorcycles used by young men who had allegedly arrived to create violence.
BJP state president Dilip Ghosh said the condition in the state was close to what warrants President’s Rule.
“The politics of violence witnessed in Bengal is quite unprecedented. The state election commission (SEC) must act to restore faith in the process. Else it will be complicit to Trinamool Congress’s project of destroying democracy,” said CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury.
“Trinamool’s victory was certain. The ruling party should have allowed people to vote to uphold the values of democracy,” said Congress Bengal president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury. “Democracy has been murdered in Bengal today. It appeared fit for invoking President’s rule in the state,” said MoS heavy industries and Asansol MP Babul Supriyo.
The police on its part pointed to figures to say that the situation was not as bad. “We tried our best to achieve a completely peaceful election. But despite our efforts a few sporadic incidents and death took place,” said DGP Surajit Kar Purkayastha.
The Trinamool rejected allegations of violence. “Apart from a few sporadic incidents, polling was peaceful. Trinamool Congress, as a party, never wants or supports such incidents. The state government provided support to the SEC with as much as possible,” claimed Trinamool Congress secretary general and minister Partha Chatterjee.
In many places voters alleged that even while they were waiting to cast their votes, young men applied marks of the indelible ink on their left index finger and asked them to go home saying their vote has been cast.
