New Delhi: West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose lamented the violence that marred the conduct of the panchayat elections on Saturday, saying that he was “very disturbed” with what he saw on the ground. Speaking to news agency ANI after polling for panchayats ended, the West Bengal governor said, “What I have seen on the ground is very disturbing, there is violence and murder.”
According to news agency PTI, the violence on polling day claimed 12 lives, amid reports of bombs being hurled, ballot boxes destroyed, while the political parties levelled allegations of strong-arm tactics against their rivals.
“…One thing I have noticed is that it is the poor people who get killed, the killers are also poor…we should kill poverty but instead we’re killing the poor…this is not what Bengal deserves,” ANI quoted Bose as saying.
#WATCH | “What I have seen on the ground is very disturbing, there is violence & murder…one thing I have noticed is that it is the poor people who get killed, the killers are also poor…we should kill poverty but instead we’re killing the poor…this is not what Bengal… pic.twitter.com/PTw2yyJkBf
— ANI (@ANI) July 8, 2023
Earlier in the day, he visited various areas in North 24 Parganas and met the injured people.
“People requested me to stop my motorcade on the way. There were a lot of tales to tell, they told me about murders happening around them, goons not allowing them to go to polling booths, and also about presiding officers not listening to them. These are stray cases but even one incident of bloodshed should cause concern to all of us,” PTI quoted Bose as saying.
Meanwhile, Bengal State Election Commissioner (SEC) Rajiva Sinha promised to look into the complaints of tampering of votes and said he will take a decision on possible re-polling after reports from observers and returning officers, PTI reported.
“I have been getting information (of violence and clashes) since last night. Calls were directly made to me as well as to the Control room phone numbers on these incidents. The maximum number of such incidents on Saturday were reported from three to four districts like North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas and Murshidabad district,” Sinha told PTI.