Friday, May 8, 2009

Blood stains Bengal as 75% vote in Phase II, Apprehending serious clash in III phase.

Tension and mercury soar in Bengal’s phase II, 5 left dead ( lastly 6 in Clash and 2 in sun-stroke)


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A young jeans-clad man with two
crude bombs near a polling booth in
Howrah’s Pilkhana area.
Picture by Pabitra Das, The Telegraph...........................................
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Indian Express News Services Posted: Friday , May 08, 2009

BENGAL TURNOUT 70% in Phase-I, 75% in Phase-II,
?? in Phase III on 13thMay,2009.









An Injured TMC supporter
Arobinda Roy of Kanyapur village
of Burdwan Parliamentary Constituency

Kolkata: In its second phase of polling in West Bengal on Thursday, five people lost their lives — three in poll-related violence and two of sunstroke as they waited to exercise their franchise. The polls in 17 Lok Sabha constituencies passed recorded a turnout of 75 per cent, 5 per cent up from the first phase on 30th April last.
The day’s major incident of violence was reported from Kalyanpur in Asansol Lok Sabha constituency under Burdwan district in which one person was killed in a clash between two groups. Three police personnel were also injured when a group of armed CPM cadres entered a polling booth in Asansol. They hurled bombs and opened fire indiscriminately while fighting with Trinamool supporters. During the clash, four houses and four vehicles were set on fire.
The police said the incident took place at Booth No. 7 in Kalyanpur. Polling was suspended at the booth for over an hour. The violence continued at Asansol sub-divisional hospital where the injured were admitted, the police said, with Trinamool supporters attacking an injured CPM worker as well as two others.

At Khargram in Jangipur constituency of Murshidabad, from where External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee is seeking a re-election one person was killed in a clash. However, compared to the recent panchayat elections when 14 people were killed, this time the overall poll process in Murshidabad was unusually peaceful. “We are very happy that a district, which had a record of political violence in the polls, today had a peaceful one. There were only few stray incidents,” said Murshidabad District Magistrate Perwez Ahmed Siddiqui.

And at Amta in Howrah district one Shaikh Manwar Jamadar, 20, a CPM supporter, was shot dead allegedly by Congress supporters after the polling was over. In all 12 people were arrested, according to state Home Secretary Ardhendu Sen, who called the second phase of the election largely peaceful.
Most surprising was that in Nandigram and Singur — where there were fears of large-scale violence — the polling process passed in relative calm despite minor skirmishes between rival groups throughout the day. Three people were arrested following the clashes.
However, CPM state secretary Biman Bose complained that in as many as 45 booths, CPM polling agents were prevented from staying posted by political opponents and there was large scale rigging of ballots. Bose demanded repolling in 58 booths at Nandigram.
Meanwhile Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee blamed Marxists for disturbances. “The Marxists created disturbances at Nandigram. EVM machines were tampered with in some places,” she alleged.

Mafia shadow on murder
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The mother of Akshay, the Trinamul supporter killed in Asansol.

The Telegraph News BureauFriday , May 8 , 2009

May 7: The second phase of polling in Bengal claimed eight lives, including that of two who fell victim to the scorching sun, but the bloodiest incident traces its roots to the coal mafia’s nexus with politicians in Asansol.
An armed gang barged into a school doubling as polling booth in Asansol’s Kanyapur this afternoon, snatched rifles from policemen before driving them away and shot and slit the throat of a Trinamul Congress supporter.
Akshay Bauri, 35, died within minutes — the first casualty in 10 years of what is being passed off as a poll clash in Asansol, known as a CPM bastion.
However, political and police sources said the grisly murder was the result of the coal mafia’s efforts to ingratiate itself further with some sections of the CPM whose patronage the underworld has been enjoying for at least a decade.
The CPM still has a stranglehold in Asansol but the Opposition Trinamul has been trying to break into the territory. The Trinamul effort has not made too much of a headway but the nascent threat was enough to infuriate the coal mafia, which smelt a chance to please the political guardians and went out of its way to engineer today’s attack, the sources said.
The audacity — and ferocity — of the attack stunned the police. Some officers described it as “unusual” as CPM-Trinamul clashes are rare in the area.
Around 10 men armed with pipe guns, bombs and daggers entered the polling booth around 12.30pm and threw away the electronic voting machines.
Pratim Mukherjee, an official video-recording proceedings inside the booth, was pushed to the floor and kicked. “When three policemen intervened, the goons snatched their rifles and beat them up with the butts,” he said. The polling officers ran for their lives. One of them could not be traced till late this evening.
Most of the 100-odd voters waiting for their turn to vote scattered and fled but Akshay was picked out and killed. The gang then dumped the rifles and left.
As word spread, about 200 Trinamul supporters armed with revolvers, bombs and daggers landed. Some went into the houses of CPM supporters nearby and fire-bombed them. TV sets, refrigerators and furniture were destroyed.
Three men have been arrested but the police did not specify whether they have been picked up for the murder or the rioting.
The other deaths in poll clashes occurred in Nandigram, Pranab Mukherjee’s Jangipur constituency and Uluberia in Howrah. In Jangipur, a CPM leader died in a bomb attack.
Kanai Jana, 49, suffered a heart attack and died after he ran to escape a lathicharge to disperse squabbling CPM and Trinamul supporters at Contai in East Midnapore.
In Salkia, Parulbala Das, 76, died of sunstroke while standing in the queue. Bhaskar Bera, 40, of Khejuri also could not bear the sun. The Met office said the temperature was pushing 40 degrees Celsius across south Bengal today.

The Bengal Story of Phase-I : At least 3 dead, 64% turnout (30th April,2009)

Statesman News Service, KOLKATA, April 30: At least three persons were killed today in Jamboni, Midnapore West in a landmine blast triggered by suspected Maoists. casting a dark shadow on the first phase of polling for 14 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state that otherwise ended by and large peacefully. It was for the first time that Maoists made a significant impact on Left-Front-ruled Bengal's electoral fortunes by persuading the residents of the Purulia-Midnapore-Bankura belt to observe a near-total boycott of the polls. Mr Debashis Sen, state chief electoral officer, said the elections were largely peaceful and 64 per cent votes had been cast on an average. He declined comment, though, when asked whether the polling was free and fair. The Opposition complained of large scale rigging and intimidation by CPI-M activists in Keshpur and Garbeta. The three Hills Assembly segments of the Darjeeling seat recorded a heavy turnout between 75 per cent and 83 per cent and the polling there was almost over by 4 p.m, while the plain segments recorded about 70 per cent. Left Front chairman Mr Biman Bose doubted the high rate of polling in the Hills, “especially when it rained heavily in north Bengal making it very difficult for the voters to negotiate the slushy hill tracks”. He alleged that the Gorkha Jana Mukti Morcha hadn't allowed CPI-M polling agents to enter the booths. The landmine blast was triggered around 6 p.m. when polling personnel were returning from Jamboni. It was believed to have been detonated with a remote control device. Polling personnel were travelling in a jeep, being escorted by paramilitary forces, when the blast ripped apart the vehicle between Dohijuri and Kapgari in Jamboni, killing at least two polling officials and their driver. One of the polling officials was identified as Prasad Bandopadhyay, a sector officer. The other poll official was identified as Sougata Karmakar, and the driver as Sanjay Das. Earlier, around 8 a.m., a landmine exploded on the Biramdia Primary school premises injuring a BSF jawan, Mr Mahesh Kumar. He was rushed to Purulia Sadar Hospital where he underwent surgery. Poll boycott assumed a definite pattern both in north Bengal and the Maoist-dominated areas. The Adivasi Vikash Parisad had given a boycott call in the tea garden areas of the Terai-Dooars region and no votes could be cast in 17 booths there. On the other hand, the Maoists successfully ran their writ in many areas of the Bankura-Purulia-Midnapore belt where they had consolidated much.

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