New Delhi: In the wake of widespread violence that was reported during panchayat elections in West Bengal on Saturday, Governor CV Ananda Bose will visit Delhi and is likely to meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah, news agency ANI reported. According to ANI, the governor is expected to meet Amit Shah to discuss the situation and provide a detailed report on the incidents of violence that took place during the rural polls.
The West Bengal panchayat polls were marred by violence, both in the run-up to the elections and on election day. As clashes and incidents of booth capturing were reported in various districts, at least 18 people were reported dead in poll-related violence.
Ten members of the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) were killed, three each from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress, and two each from the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), as per ANI.
Several instances of ballot box vandalism and destruction were also reported throughout the day. Ballot boxes and ballot papers were set on fire at a booth in Baravita Govt Primary School in the Dinhata area of Cooch Behar district, ANI reported.
“…One thing I have noticed is that it is the poor people who get killed, the killers are also poor...we should kill poverty but instead we're killing the poor...this is not what Bengal deserves,” ANI quoted Bose as saying.
Earlier, he visited various areas in North 24 Parganas and met the injured people.
"People requested me to stop my motorcade on the way. There were a lot of tales to tell, they told me about murders happening around them, goons not allowing them to go to polling booths, and also about presiding officers not listening to them. These are stray cases but even one incident of bloodshed should cause concern to all of us," PTI quoted Bose as saying.