| Violence
claims five lives, Opp wants repoll in 3,000 booths
Subrata
Nagchoudhury
Kolkata,
May 10:
Violence marred the 13th state Assembly elections in West Bengal,
claiming five lives. Four of the victims were Trinamool Congress
supporters and one belonged to the CPI(M).
Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, who had stationed herself
in Midnapore district since last night, refused to cast her vote
in protest against what she described as a ‘‘mockery of
democracy’’. Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya however,
claimed that polling in the state was by and large peaceful.
In Kolkata and its outskirts polling was pegged at 60-65 per while
in several districts, the turnout was as high as 70 per cent. State
Chief Electoral Officer Sabyasachi Sen said that repoll would be
ordered in some booths after considering reports from the returning
officers and the election observers. The Congress-Trinamool combie
camp demanded repoll in over 3,000 boths while the Left also demanded
repoll in about 50 booths.
The casualty figures didn’t reflect the actual extent of the
‘‘silent terror’’ let loose by organized bands
of CPI(M) cadres in different constituencies. Today’s violence
was largely confined to Kolkata, North and South 24-Parganas, all
Trinamool strongholds. In some of the marginal seats in Kolkata
like Beleghata, Manicktala, Entally and Jorabagan, there was fierce
fighting with crude bombs.
Polling had to be suspended in some booths when armed groups smashed
the EVMs. Later, two bullet ridden bodies were recovered from the
area, both of which are said to be those of Trinamool supporters.
In Beleghata in east Kolkata, the son of a Trinamool councillor
died when the RAF lathicharged and finally resortd to firing at
two warring groups. Sporadic clashes continued in the area till
late in the night.
In Titagarh, bombs were hurled at a vehicle and the driver of a
CPI(M) leader of a local municipality was killed.
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