The death toll in the three-tier panchayat elections in West Bengal rose to 15. The rural areas of the state witnessed large-scale violence on Saturday during the panchayat elections which took place for 73,887 seats, as ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC), and Opposition parties – the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) – traded barbs over the violence.
A person, identified as Abu Salem Khan, who was reportedly a TMC worker, was found dead near a polling booth in West Gabtala. Police said that he had injuries on his head. The incident happened under the jurisdiction limits of Kultali police station area, reports PTI.
The cause of his death is being ascertained.
Another TMC worker, identified as Azhar Lashkar, injured during violence in the district’s Basanti area on Saturday night died at the state-run SSKM Hospital in Kolkata.
Further, in Malda district’s Baishannagar, TMC worker Motiur Rahman was stabbed outside a polling booth. The incident happened near KBC primary school in the Barkamat area. Rahman succumbed to the injuries on the way to the Malda Medical College and Hospital, officials said.
The ruling party alleged that he was injured when he tried to prevent Congress workers from tampering with the ballot box. However, the Congress has denied the charge.
Till Saturday night, 12 deaths were reported in the violence that broke out in the state during the polling. Among them, eight were from the ruling TMC and one supporter each of the BJP, CPI(M) and Congress.
The State Election Commission (SEC) said it has sought detailed reports on the deaths from the district magistrates (DMs), and asked them to file within 24 hours.
As of 5 PM on Saturday, the voter turnout for the panchayat election was 66.28 per cent. However, repolling was underway in 32 booths in Cooch Behar district’s Dinhata on Sunday.