Bengal Panchayat Polls: Day Before Polling, Congress Worker Killed, 4 BJP Workers Injured

KOLKATA: With just one day left for the panchayat polls in West Bengal, a Congress worker in Murshidabad district was beaten to death on Friday while four workers of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Cooch Behar district were left injured after they were fired upon.

Congress worker Aravind Mandal, the brother of Hriday Mandal, the party candidate for the panchayat polls, was killed in Ranninagar area of Murshidabad. The incident occurred at a time when Governor CV Ananda Bose is slated to embark on a visit to violence-hit areas of the district on Friday.

There were allegations from the Congress party that Aravind Mandal was beaten to death by Trinamool Congress (TMC) workers on the rampage. However, the allegations were refuted by TMC.

Counting this latest fatality, the number of people killed during poll violence in the run-up to the panchayat polls in the state rose to five in Murshidabad alone. Since the nomination process began, 18 people have been killed so far.

In another incident of poll violence, four BJP workers were injured in a firing incident in Dinhata area in Cooch Behar on Thursday night when suspected TMC workers allegedly used crude bombs and firearms to attack them, leaving them with bullet injuries.

The injured BJP workers were identified as Milan Barman, Chandra Barman, Arjun Barman and Hero Barman. All of the injured were admitted to a nearby hospital for treatment.

Meanwhile, governor C V Ananda Bose is scheduled to visit some areas in Murshidabad which has been affected by political violence. He previously paid visits to Bhangar, Canning and Basanti in South 24 Parganas, along with Cooch Behar, where clashes are reported to have broken out between political parties.

The high-stakes panchayat polls in West Bengal are scheduled to be held in a single phase on July 8 (Saturday). Campaigning for the polls ended on Thursday.

A total electorate of around 5.67 crore people are eligible to vote for candidates in the three-tier panchayat system, which comprises the zilla parishad, panchayat samiti and gram panchayat.

Around 65,000 central police personnel and 70,000 state police personnel are set to be deployed for the rural polls, officials said.

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