Over 60 per cent of voters on Saturday turned up for polling for 91 civic bodies in West Bengal during which a man was shot dead while three others sustained bullet injuries.
A Trinamool Congress activist, identified as Indrajit Singh, was shot dead while two women voters sustained bullet injuries at Katwa in Burdwan. Another person was shot at in North 24 Parganas district. “He (Singh) was shot dead by unidentified people. We have sought a report on the incident,” Burdwan district magistrate Saumitra Mohan said. Trinamool leaders have pointed fingers at Congress activists over Singh’s death.
Claiming ignorance about Singh’s death, State Election Commissioner S.R. Upadhyay admitted receiving over 100 complaints of violence and electoral malpractices.
“We have received over 100 complaints including those for booth capturing, voter intimidation, assault on polling agents and incidents of firing from at least four different places,” Upadhyay told mediapersons. He said most of the complaints were from North 24 Parganas district and he has sought reports from the officials concerned. Even as he admitted that a polling official was injured and EVMs and webcams were destroyed in several booths, Upadhyay refused to comment if the polls were peaceful or not.