JOIN USAs panchayat elections entered the fourth phase in West Bengal, violence continued unabated across the state with clashes escalating on Monday. The fourth phase of polling will be held in Malda, Murshidabad, Nadia and Birbhum districts.
So far, the death toll stood at nine, including two voters, while several others were injured.
As the fourth phase witnessed the first three-sided contest between the Trinamool Congress (TMC), Congress and CPM, six people were killed across Malda and Murshidabad districts in separate clashes between political parties.
Three children, between the age of five and seven, were injured at Kaliachawk in Malda district after a crude bomb exploded next to an ice-cream cart when they picked up a round object assuming it to be a ball.
While Noorjehan Bibi, a voter, was killed by a stray bullet outside a booth in Malda, Abdul Mannan, another voter, was reportedly killed outside a booth in Murshidabad when he was allegedly helping his friends from the Congress who were trying to influence voters queued outside the booth.
The Central security forces deployed at the booth opened fire to control the unruly Congress supporters and Mannan was killed in the melee.
Maximum violence was reported from the two northern districts of Malda and Murshidabad, the only districts where the Congress has significant presence. Clashes were also reported from Nadia district where trouble brewed after a CPM worker, allegedly beaten-up by TMC workers on Sunday, died in a state-run hospital in the early hours on Monday.
Birbhum district, barring sporadic incidents of violence, remained tense after bodies of two CPM workers were discovered on Monday morning with deep injuries.
Both the Left and the Congress blamed the state government for failing to control the widespread violence that erupted ever since the second phase of polling began on July 15. They also accused the TMC of rigging the polls, jamming booths and casting false votes in all the four districts.
Union Minister of State for Railways and senior Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury blamed the TMC and CPM for spreading violence. CPM state secretary Biman Bose accused the TMC of unleashing an “unprecedented wave of terror”, particularly in Malda and Murshidabad.
He also spoke of violence against Left supporters in South 24 Parganas, where polling took place on July 19.
According to the Congress and Left leaders, the TMC allegedly prevented opposition parties from campaigning in the districts set for polls on July 25, the fifth and the last phase.