How death shadowed voters during Bengal panchayat polls

At least 40 people sustained bullet and bomb injuries in Murshidabad on Saturday, police officials said on condition of anonymity.

For Dulali Karjee, Saturday was supposed to be a day when she and her son, Chiranjit, would meet friends and neighbours while voting for the Bhagni gram panchayat in the Dinhata area of Cooch Behar. Destiny, however, had something else in store for the 64-year-old woman.

Police and paramilitary personnel were stationed across West Bengal amidst incidents if violence (File Photo)

“We were going towards the polling booth when some men, who had their faces covered, started firing at local people without any provocation. We ran towards a house in the locality to look for cover. A bullet hit Chiranjit in the chest and he fell,” recalled Karjee.

“The masked men fired indiscriminately but several people survived with injuries. My 29-year-old son was not so lucky. He died at the hospital,” she said.

At least 18 people died across eight districts of West Bengal on Saturday as the panchayat elections were marked by sporadic violence, looting of ballot papers and alleged rigging.

Chiranjit Karjee was a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) worker. Two more people - a second BJP worker and a TMC supporter - died in violence in the north Bengal district of Cooch Behar on Saturday.

Even as the ruling party distanced itself from the killings, saying elections in 14 districts were peaceful and the violence was restricted to areas around only 60 of the state’s 61,636 polling booths, the statistical explanation could barely console horrified voters and government employees deployed to conduct the elections.

Saidul Mian, a resident of Hajarhat village in Cooch Behar, said: “The men who hurled bombs at us were BJP supporters. They looted three ballot boxes from our local polling booth.”

Muhammed Hamid, a resident of Beltapara village, said: “Some TMC supporters forcibly entered the booth in our area, hurled bombs and decamped with three ballot boxes.”

In Murshidabad district, Sariful Islam, a government staff sent to conduct polls in the Raninagar area, broke down in tears in front of the media after miscreants attacked his booth inside a school building.

“A mob appeared from nowhere after around 800 people had cast their votes. They rained bombs around the booth. My colleagues and I crawled under the wooden benches to hide. We don’t know which party these people represent,” Islam said.

Murshidabad district witnessed five deaths on Saturday, the highest among all districts that have been hit by violence since the polls were announced on June 8.

The first man to die in pre-poll violence on June 9 was a Congress worker in Murshidabad.

At least 40 people sustained bullet and bomb injuries in Murshidabad on Saturday, police officials said on condition of anonymity. The first victim of Saturday’s violence in Bengal was TMC worker Babar Ali (45) from Murshidabad.

Police said he was talking to fellow party workers in front of his house at Beldanga on Friday night when he was attacked by some armed.

“The man was mercilessly bludgeoned. He died in hospital in the early hours of Saturday,” said an officer.

Ismail Sheikh, a resident of the Dafarpur gram panchayat area said: “A local TMC leader did not allow any voter to enter the booth. His henchmen hurled at least 25-30 bombs to terrorize us.”

Ratan Das, a voter from the Manindranagar gram panchayat area in Murshidabad, said: “I went to cast my vote around 9 am. When I reached the booth, I was told by the polling personnel that my vote had already been cast. Only TMC-backed goons could have done this.”