July 25: Polling in the four north Bengal districts was peaceful overall, a respite from the earlier three phases of elections.
Incidents of bombing were few, no
incident of mob violence and few complaints of booth jamming were
reported from North Dinajpur, South Dinajpur, Jalpaiguri and Cooch Behar
in the final phase of elections.
The demand for repolling, across all four districts, is also only six.
“This phase was
relatively peaceful compared to the previous three phases. We are
somewhat satisfied,” said Tapas Roy, secretary of the state election
commission, this evening.
Several reasons
were cited for the peaceful polls, chief among them being the lesser
strength of Trinamul, no provocative speeches by politicians and a lower
population density compared to the south.
“In north Bengal,
the aggression that Trinamul has displayed in south Bengal was missing
in the run-up to the panchayat polls,” a Congress leader said.
“In south Bengal,
Trinamul leaders such as Anubrata Mondal and Manirul Islam have been
baying for the blood of opponents. But in north Bengal, the Trinamul
leadership has been harping on development.”
A Trinamul leader
said: “We are not yet as strong in north Bengal as we are in the south.
So our tone has been different. We have campaigned on the agenda of
development and our leaders and ministers never delivered provocative
speeches.”
The Congress and the CPM, too, largely exercised restraint.
Also, several
political leaders pointed out that because of the Congress’s near
absence in the south of the state, most of the contests there have been
between the Left and Trinamul.
“Today, in south
Bengal, the Congress does not exist,” said a Congress leader. “But in
the north, Trinamul cannot bully the party and ride roughshod. It has to
recognise the Congress as a party to contend with and so has to
exercise restraint.”
Given the Left’s presence too in north Bengal, the contest was not a straight one in most places.
Compared to the south, in north Bengal the population density is much lower thereby reducing the possibility of clashes.
“Even where there
have been political clashes today, they have not been as violent as we
have witnessed in south Bengal,” a CPM leader said.
An election
commission source said the fact that the only 2,000 central forces —
compared to the 15,000 to 25,000 deployed in the other phases — were
enough to maintain peace was an indicator of the relatively peaceful
nature of the polls here.
Of the two deaths, one was reported from Itahar’s Borobilla village.
A 55-year-old CPM
supporter, Abdul Aziz, died in a clash after an altercation with
Trinamul workers in front of a polling booth this morning.
According to witnesses, while Aziz was standing in queue to vote, some Trinamul workers said his vote had already been cast.
Aziz, along with a few associates, protested this and said it could be a mistake.
An altercation ensued and Aziz and his associates were allegedly attacked by the Trinamul workers with rods and bamboo poles.
A heavily injured
Aziz was rushed to the Raiganj district hospital where he died. His five
associates have been admitted with injuries.
In Jalpaiguri, an
aged ailing rickshaw-puller died after being pestered by alleged
Trinamul workers to go out and vote. Mahendra Burman collapsed in the
queue and was declared dead in Siliguri district hospital.
Trinamul workers allegedly ransacked an election office of the Congress in Hemtabad block of North Dinajpur.
In the same
district, two ballot boxes from two adjoining booths in Dakshin Birnagar
were snatched by CPM workers who threw those into a village pond.
In another booth in North Dinajpur, polling stopped as the CPM and Congress alleged that Trinamul has resorted to rigging.
Over 100 CPM
workers squatted on the Cooch Behar-Gosanimari road, alleging that they
have been stopped by Trinamul-backed goons from voting.
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