West Bengal panchayat elections LIVE: Minister says BJP brought Bangladeshis to stir violence

People in rural Bengal are voting on Monday to elect 38,529 representatives in the three-tier panchayat elections amid political violence. Live updates

india Updated: May 14, 2018 08:57 IST
People make a queue to cast their votes in Purulia’s Chakra in West Bengal. (ANI/Twitter)

Polling for electing 38,616 representatives across three tiers to West Bengal Panchayat (rural) bodies began at 7am on Monday as several pockets of the state remained tense after deaths due to political violence.

The (Trinamool Congress) TMC has already won 20,163 of the total 58,692 seats unopposed— a record since the Panchayati Raj was introduced. Though it’s a battle of survival for the Left and Congress, the BJP hopes to put up a fight and establish itself as the main opposition party.

The rural polls are being seen as a dress rehearsal for the parliamentary elections due next year and are expected to reflect trends with regard to the position of various opposition parties.

West Bengal panchayat elections LIVE updates:

8.47am: Violence has been reported in Keshpur of West Midnapore district.

8.45am: Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh says the incidents of violence are largely reported from south Bengal. North Bengal is relatively peaceful.

8.40am: A large police contingent fires tear gas shells to disperse trouble mongers in Bhangar.

8.38am: TV channels air footage of clashes between two groups of people inside a booth in a school of Uttar Gazipur village in South 24 Parganas.

8.35am: A Congress candidate sustains injuries in Chapatala of Deganga in North 24 Parganas district.

8.30am: Bengal food minister alleges BJP has brought in hundreds of people from Bangladesh to unleash violence on the polling day. His allegation comes in connection with the storming of a booth in Bagda of North 24 Parganas district early in the morning by dozens of outsiders.

“About 100 people from Bangladesh led by BJP leaders such as Kartik Ghosh and Ganesh Ghosh stormed a polling station in Amduk village. Villagers We had information that BJP brought a lot of people to unleash violence ,” Trinamool MLA and food minister Jyotipriyo Mullick.

8.15am: Chief minister Mamata Banerjee urges people and political parties to not pay heed to canards and “fake videos” and participate peacefully in the panchayat elections.

8.02am: In Suktabari area of Cooch Behar district, a woman voter was injured and taken to a hospital when she was caught in a clash between supporters of Trinamool and an independent candidate.

In most areas, disgruntled local Trinamool Congress leaders, who were denied tickets for the elections, are contesting as independent candidates.

8am: In Bagda of North 24 Parganas district, about 15 men allegedly stormed a booth on Sunday night and began stamping ballot papers stored there.

Villagers caught some of them and beat them up till the police came and sent them to a hospital. Villagers claim when they confronted the group, they tried to flee by hurling crude bombs.

7.52am: As many as 1,54,500 policemen, including Bengal police, civic volunteers and cops from the Sikkim, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana have been deployed to ensure peaceful voting. Police have sealed the state’s border with Jharkhand.

7.50am: Opposition parties in West Bengal are banking on social media to highlight violence which they fear could mar the crucial three-tier Bengal panchayat polls on Monday.

7.45am: Some visuals from a polling station in Cooch Behar.

7.15am: Long queues are seen outside booths right from 6 am. Many of them were women, who planned to cast their votes before returning to attend to domestic chores. Some women also carry children on their laps.

7.10am: Voters stand in a queue outside a polling booth in Jalpaiguri’s Ashighar, with umbrellas in their hands, to cast their vote.

7am: Polling begins for 38,529 seats in the three-tier panchayat system.

* Following the death of a land agitator at Bhangar near Kolkata last Friday, a BJP supporter whose wife is contesting the elections in West Midnapore district was attacked on Saturday night with sharp-edged and blunt weapons. Manua Hansda died on Sunday morning. With this, the death toll in the run-up to the elections reached 16.

* Violence was reported from the districts of East Midnapore, Bankura, Hooghly and Malda. In most cases, the TMC was accused of causing it while in some cases, supporters of the ruling party bore the brunt of the violence as well.