Kolkata, May 12: Politics and violence bear an inseparable link in West Bengal, particularly when it comes to elections. The 6th phase of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections taking place on Sunday has already witnessed incidents of violence in different parts of the state. One BJP worker and one TMC worker were found dead and few got injured in the incident. BJP has condemned these incidents and said the TMC workers are behind the attacks.
As per ANI source, in East Medinipur, BJP workers Ananta Guchait and Ranjit Maity were shot at last night in Bhagabanpur area. The injured were admitted to a hospital soon after the incident and are undergoing treatment.
BJP worker Raman Singh was found dead in Gopiballabpur area of Jhargram. His body has been sent for post mortem and a probe has been ordered. However, after the preliminary investigation, the local police say there are no injury marks on him and he suffered a seizure, which caused his death.
The Trinamool worker who was found dead in Contai has been identified as Sudhakar Maiti. As per ANI source, he was visiting a sick relative at the Kanthi Sub-Divisional Hospital on Saturday night after which he went missing.
Polling is underway for the sixth phase of elections in the country for 59 Lok Sabha seats, including 7 in Delhi, 8 in Bihar, 10 in Haryana, 8 in Madhya Pradesh, 14 in Uttar Pradesh, 8 in West Bengal and 4 in Jharkhand.
Results of the seven-phase elections will be declared on May 23.
Incidents of sporadic violence were reported from Midnapore constituency where the saffron party's state unit chief Dilip Ghosh is engaged in a high profile battle with Trinamool Congress' Rajya Sabha member Manas Bhunia.
At least four Trinamool Party activists had to be hospitalized after being attacked with sharp weapons allegedly by BJP supporters. The condition of one person was critical.
Meanwhile, a number of saffron party supporters got injured in the constituency's Datan area following a clash with Trinamool workers.
Former IPS officer and BJP candidate from West Midnapore district's Ghatal, Bharati Ghosh, was stopped from entering a polling booth by a group of women Trinamool Congress workers who accused her of influencing the voters.
Ghosh accused the ruling party of organised violence and demanded that the offenders be immediately arrested.
"I am a candidate. I can always enter a polling booth. Those who are trying to stop me should be arrested. They (Trinamool) is resorting to organised violence against me," Ghosh said before leaving the spot.
Later, bricks were pelted on her convoy near Keshpur, injuring one of her security guards.
With inputs from IANS