Polling underway in Bengal, two die in violence

Kolkata, May 25 (IANS) With two deaths confirmed and reports of poll-related tension surfacing mainly from East Midnapore and West Midnapore districts, the polling percentage for eight Lok Sabha constituencies in West Bengal in the sixth phase on Saturday was 16.54 in the first two hours.

Tension mounted at Belatikri area under Lalgarh Police Station in Jhargram Lok Sabha constituency following the recovery of the body of a youth with injuries throughout his body.

The deceased has been identified as Uttam Mahato. The local police, however, claimed that there was no relation of politics or poll-related violence with the incident. There was also confusion about the political affiliation of the deceased.

This is the second death reported since early Saturday morning, the first being the killing of a local Trinamool Congress leader Sheikh Moibul reportedly following clashes between the BJP and ruling party activists.

According to statistics available from the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), West Bengal, The highest polling percentage has been reported from Tamluk at 19.07, followed by Bishnupur at 18.56, Ghatal at 18.27, Bankura at 17.69, Jhargram 16.22, Kanthi 15.45, Medinipur 14.58 and Purulia being the lowest at 12.38.

In the first two hours, a total of 364 complaints have been received by the CEO's office, out of which 69 are from different political parties, while the remaining are individual complaints. The maximum number of complaints have been received from CPI(M) followed by BJP at 30.

Tension was also reported from Sabang in West Midnapore district, where a polling agent of BJP was injured following an attack on him allegedly by ruling Trinamool Congress activists. He has been admitted to Sabang Hospital with head injuries.

Trinamool Congress has alleged that the local BJP activists at Nandigram under Tamluk Lok Sabha have destroyed a connecting footbridge there so that the local villagers are unable to reach the polling station. The ruling party leadership has claimed that they will be approaching the Election Commission of India and update the latter about the development.