'Deployment Of Troops For Polls In Bengal Would Have Been Easier If...': BSF To State Election Commission

At least 12 people died, bombs were hurled, ballot boxes destroyed as all parties levelled allegations of strong-arm tactics against their rivals.

Security personnel conduct a flag march after clashes between the political groups during panchayat polls in West Bengal, in South 24 Pargana district.

Source : PTI

New Delhi: In the wake of widespread violence during West Bengal panchayat elections on Saturday, the Border Security Force (BSF) wrote a letter to the State Election Commission stating no information was shared on the sensitive booths, news agency ANI reported. According to the report, BSF said maximum violence was reported in places where state police was deployed. "If the proper list of sensitive areas would have been provided then the deployment of central forces would have been easier," BSF said as reported by ANI.

At least 12 people died, bombs were hurled, ballot boxes destroyed as all parties levelled allegations of strong-arm tactics against their rivals, news agency PTI reported. Among the places that reported maximum violence were Murshidabad, Nadia and Cooch Behar districts, apart from some pockets in South 24 Parganas such as Bhangar and in Purba Medinipur’s Nandigram.

According to PTI, those killed in poll-violence were six Trinamool Congress (TMC) members, and one worker each of the BJP, CPI(M), Congress and ISF, and another person whose identity could not be ascertained.

Slamming the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC), BJP said the party considers "murders" as its guarantee to power. It also lashed out at TMC saying Bengal’s "bomb culture" is shaming India and its democracy across the world.

Hitting out at Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Union minister Anurag Thakur said she cannot preside over an election "without killings and chaos". "How low will she stoop to establish her party's dominance in the panchayat polls," PTI quoted Thakur as saying.

Meanwhile, Bengal State Election Commissioner (SEC) Rajiva Sinha promised to look into the complaints of tampering of votes and said he will take a decision on possible re-polling after reports from observers and returning officers, PTI reported.

“I have been getting information (of violence and clashes) since last night. Calls were directly made to me as well as to the Control room phone numbers on these incidents. The maximum number of such incidents on Saturday were reported from three to four districts like North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas and Murshidabad district," Sinha told PTI.