WB panchayat polls: Six killed, 18 injured in violence

Six persons, including a woman, were killed and 18 were injured in violence and CRPF firing in the fourth phase of the West Bengal panchayat elections on Monday. Polling in four districts saw a voter turnout of 25 per cent.

State Election Commission sources said that 25 per cent polling was recorded till noon in Murshidabad, Birbhum, Malda and Nadia districts. Two persons were killed and their hands blown off while making bombs in a paddy field at Satpalsa village before polling began in Birbhum district, Rampurhat Sub-Divisional Police Officer Debasish Nandi said.

"Prima facie the two were making bombs which went off. Their hands were also blown off," Nandi said. Another two persons were killed while making bombs at Raninagar village in the same district early morning, the sources said.

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A woman voter was killed when bombs were hurled by miscreants as she was leaving a booth at Kajisha village in Beldanga area in Murshidabad district after casting her vote, police sources said. In Malda district, a 55-year-old voter was shot dead by the CRPF after voters, angry at the queue moving slowly, threw stones at a polling booth in Ratua, the sources said.

Four CRPF jawans were injured in the incident, they said. SEC sources said that reports of violence from the four districts were received, but could not give details. Reports of violence were the highest in Murshidabad district. A CPM candidate's husband was shot at in Faridpur gram panchayat area of Jalangi in the district. He was admitted to Murshidabad Medical College and Hospital at Berhampore in a serious condition, police said.

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A Trinamool Congress supporter received bullet injuries at Islampur area in the same district. Four persons were injured when bombs were hurled during a CPM-Congress clash at Juginda area of the district, they said. A youth was injured at Ichakali in Jangipur area of the district, the sources said.

Three Trinamool Congress supporters were injured in a clash with the Congress workers at Swaruppur village in the district, sources said. A report from Malda district said three children, who were playing on the roadside, were injured after bombs were hurled at a Trinamool candidate's house in Kalichowk.

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Police said the children were admitted to a local hospital where the condition of one of them was serious. In Birbhum district, the father of an independent candidate was shot at in Kasba near Bolpur.

Hriday Ghosh, the independent candidate, alleged that the miscreants targeted him, but his father was shot at when he came to save him. Maoist-posters were found at Barra village under Suri subdivision in the district.

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