Left-affiliated student and youth groups, on Saturday, clashed with police at Panchla in Howrah, the district adjoining Kolkata, a day before 108 municipal bodies in the state go to polls.
The elections are due in 20 (of 23) districts. The protests over the mysterious death of student leader Anis Khan, however, has drawn all attention away from the Sunday polls.
The 2,276 seats in 108 municipal bodies have around 90 lakh electors, with 11,290 booths. Around 44,000 police personnel will be deployed during the election.
The Trinamool candidates are unopposed contestants in over 100 wards.
The municipal bodies going to polls are located in Darjeeling, Cooch Behar, Alipurduar, Jalpaiguri, Uttar Dinajpur, Dakshin Dinajpur, Malda, Murshidabad, Nadia, North 24-Parganas, South 24-Parganas, Howrah, Hooghly, Purba Medinipur, Paschim Medinipur, Jhargram, Purulia, Bankura, Purba Bardhaman and Birbhum districts.
The Trinamool, which has been successful in winning majorities in the earlier elections to Kolkata, and four major urban bodies, is confident of a strong performance in the Sunday polls.
In Jago Bangla, party’s mouthpiece, the party has issued 10 guidelines to its supporters, telling them not to get provoked by candidates of the Opposition as they “know that they will lose”.
BJP’s plea for the deployment of central forces during the election has been turned down by Supreme Court. The Bengal BJP has claimed that several of its candidates have been ‘attacked’ at different locations. BJP leader Dilip Ghosh has claimed that people will not let seats go uncontested towards the Trinamool, and will vote for the BJP.
Meanwhile, the Anis Khan mysterious death case continues to be the cause of protests in West Bengal. On Saturday, protests by the Students’ Federation of India, and the Democratic Youth Federation of India -- the two Left-affiliated organisations at Panchla in Howrah district turned violent with bricks thrown towards the police personnel who resorted to lathi-charge and used tear-gas to disperse the crowd.
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