The death toll from panchayat poll-related violence in West Bengal has risen to 16 after one person was killed in an explosion when he was manufacturing crude bombs at Beldanga in the Murshidabad district of the state. A police officer informed, “One person was killed in a blast at Beldanga while making crude bombs. He has been identified. We are investigating.”
A Bharatiya Janata Party member whose wife is running as an independent candidate in the upcoming polls was found dead at Mohammad Bazar in Birbhum district in a separate incident. His family members has stated that he was murdered.
The final day of campaigning for all political parties is 6 July, the panchayat elections will be held on 8 July and the counting of ballots is scheduled for 11 July. In the meantime, political conflicts persisted in several districts all around the state throughout this time.
On July 5, a 17-year-old boy was killed in an explosion by a crude bomb in Deyganga, North 24 Parganas district. The boy lost his life when a bomb exploded near him during a political clash between 2 groups.
On June 24, another person was killed in a similar blast while manufacturing improvised explosive devices in a jute field near Beldanga.
A commission to uphold peace and order was established by West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose in response to such episodes of violence connected to the election. Former Calcutta High Court Chief Justice Subhro Kamal Mukherjee is to serve as the head of the “Peace and Harmony Committee.”
Further accounts of violence occurred in South 24 Parganas’ Kultali and Nadia’s Tehatta. The Calcutta High Court ordered that the central armed forces be stationed at every polling place in the state on June 21.
The state has more than 61,000 voting locations. 822 companies of the central forces and state armed police were authorized by the union ministry of home affairs to participate in the panchayat elections.