Bengal panchayat polls: Re-polling on Monday in just 697 booths

Kolkata: A day after violence-marred panchayat polls, the West Bengal State Election Commission (WBSEC) late on Sunday announced that re-polling on Monday will be conducted in just 697 polling booths in different districts of the state.

According to the fresh notification issued by State Election Commission, out of the 697 polling booths where re-polling will be conducted, the maximum will be from Murshidabad district at 175, followed by Malda at 110.

Nadia district comes in the third position with 89 booths going for re-polling on Monday.

While both Murshidabad and Malda are minority- dominated districts, Murshidabad has witnessed the maximum violence and deaths since the time the polling dates were announced on June 8.

Even on the polling day on Saturday, Murshidabad, an erstwhile Congress- bastion, recorded the maximum number of casualties.

Surprisingly, only 36 booths in South 24 Parganas district, which had witnessed violence of almost equal proportion like that of Murshidabad, are going for re-polling on Monday.

While announcing the list of polling booths that will be going for re-polling on Monday, the State Election Sommission had also said that a half- section or four personnel of central armed forces will be deployed in each of these booths that will be going for re-polling.

Incidentally, on Monday, several petitions are slated to be filed at the Calcutta High Court on massive violence and bloodbath on the polling day.

The total death count since the beginning of the polling since Saturday morning has been reported at 17. The maximum number for deaths have been recorded from Murshidabad district at five, followed by three in South 24 Parganas, two each from Cooch Behar, East Burdwan, Malda, and North Dinajpur districts and one from Nadia district.

With this, the total death count since the announcement of polling dates on June 8 has risen to 36, with 19 recorded till Friday night.

–IANS

 

Comments are closed.