KOLKATA: Fresh clashes broke out on the last day for filing nominations for panchayat elections in Bengal on Thursday claiming one life and injuring two others. Bullets were fired at an opposition parties’ rally in Chopra, North Dinajpur.
The victim was taken to a nearby healthcare unit but he was declared dead on arrival. The two others, who sustained bullet injuries, are admitted to the hospital.
Police said the incident took place when supporters of Left Front and Congress, who formed an alliance to contest the rural polls, were heading towards the nearby office of the block development officer (BDO) to file nominations.
“The ruling Trinamool Congress supporters, who assembled on the road to stop us, opened fire and three of our men slumped on the ground. We found blood oozing out of the wounds where they were hit by bullets,” said a CPI(M) supporter present at the rally.
The TMC, however, is yet to comment on the incident.
Shortly after the state election commission announced that panchayat polls will be held on July 8, setting June 15 as the deadline for filing nominations, a Congress supporter, who had defected from the TMC was shot dead in Khargram, Murshidabad district.
Protesting against TMC’s alleged atrocities and muscle flexing, BJP’s women's wing staged a sit-in-demonstration in front of the state election commission’s office alleging their candidate was not being allowed to file nominations by the supporters of the ruling party.