Bengal Elections 2021: Violence Erupts in Cooch Behar, 5 Dead

West Bengal: In a rather shocking incident of election violence, five casualties were reported from Cooch Behar's Sitalkuchi Vidhan Sabha constituency while three people have been critically injured. Following the horrific poll violence, the EC sought reports from the DEO of Cooch Behar within an hour of the incident. 

The first incident occurred at 8 AM one hour after the fourth phase of the Bengal election took off. The victim, identified as Ananda Barman was an 18 year old first time voter who was shot dead outside a polling booth in Sitalkuchi, Cooch Behar. The police have arrested two people in this matter. BJP and TMC have been playing the blame game over the death of the 18 year old boy wherein, the BJP claimed at he was a party supporter whereas the TMC alleged that BJP supporters had shot him. Following this incident, BJP and TMC supporters clashed near booth number 285. 

"We have received information that a person was shot dead outside a polling booth in Sitalkuchi in Cooch Behar district. We have sought a report from the micro-observer as soon as possible and the returning officer was called up to know about the situation," said an Election official. 

 BJP candidate from Sitalkuchi, Baren Chandra Barman claimed that the boy killed was a party polling agent at the booth and blamed TMC activists for the murder. He also claimed that the police or the central forces were absent during this incident.

In the other incident, four people were killed as the CISF allegedly open fired in retaliation for being attacked by the locals as they "tried to snatch their rifle." According to various sources, this incident occurred at about 10 AM at a polling booth in Sitalkuchi where unidentified persons allegedly attacked the Quick Response Team (QRT). 

Bengal ADGP said "As per preliminary reports, four persons were killed as CISF personnel opened fire after coming under attack by locals in the area." 

The West Bengal CM and TMC supreme leader Mamata Banerjee exclaimed that her "worst fears have come true." She blamed the Home Ministry to have had influenced the the central reserve force resulting in the death of four people. 

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