West Bengal assembly polls: Violence claims one life, 40% votes polled

A CPI(M) activist was killed when bombs were hurled outside the polling booth in Murshidabad district

Violence claimed the life of a CPI-M polling agent in Murshidabad district Thursday during the third phase of Assembly elections in West Bengal in which a voter turnout of 40% was recorded in the first four hours of polling in 62 seats.

In Domkal Assembly seat of Murshidabad, the body of a 35-year-old CPI(M) polling agent was found lying outside a polling booth at Shibapara area.

CPI(M) candidate and former minister Anisur Rahman said the man identified as Tahidur Islam was killed when bombs were hurled outside the polling booth.

District SP C Sudhakar, however, said the murder was not related to polls.

Left parties blamed the killing on the ruling Trinamool Congress alleging that they have unleashed a reign of terror to intimidate voters.

The Trinamool Congress said the death was a fallout of infighting between the alliance partners of Congress and Left Front.

In Beleghata Assembly seat in Kolkata, there were complaints of voter intimidation outside poll booths after which seven people were detained by the police, officials said.

Meanwhile, the highest voter turnout of 42.99% was recorded in the 22 seats of Murshidabad district while the lowest of 32.71% was recorded in the metropolis till 11 am.

The voting percentage in 17 seats of Nadia district was 40.78 while in 16 seats of Burdwan it was 37.33.

The overall average was 39.76%.

Amidst a tight security cover by one lakh security personnel deployed to look after law and order, polling which began at 7 am in 16,461 polling stations will go on till 6 pm.

Over 1.37 voters are eligible to exercise their franchise in this phase to elect their legislators from among 418 candidates, including 34 women, spread over Murshidabad, Burdwan and Nadia districts and north Kolkata.

Key candidates in this phase include Trinamool ministers Shashi Panja and Sadhan Pande, BJP national secretary Rahul Sinha, five-time Congress MLA Md Sohrab, CPI-M MLA Anisur Rahman and retired IPS officer Nazrul Islam.

The Election Commission has identified 3,401 hamlets in this phase as vulnerable.