The third and final phase of panchayat polls in West Bengal held on Sunday proved to be the bloodiest, with at least one dozen people dead and dozens of others injured. The first phase held on May 11 went off peacefully, while six people were killed in the second phase on May 14.
On Sunday, elections were held in seven districts — North Dinajpur, South Dinajpur, Malda, Jalpaiguri, Cooch Behar, Birbhum and Murshidabad. The worst-affected was Murshidabad, where at least 12 people were killed, most of them in just one police station area — Domkal. One person who was injured at Nanoor in Birbhum district on Saturday night in a bomb explosion succumbed to his injuries early on Sunday. He was allegedly a CPI(M) supporter who was injured while making bombs.
On Saturday night, the body of another CPI(M) supporter was found at Madarihat in Jalpaiguri. On the eve of the polls in Murshidabad, the death of a CPI(M) supporter gave ample indication about the mayhem which was about to unfold. Sharful Sheikh was killed on the spot when the bomb he and his friends were making exploded. The incident occurred at Notundira village, in the Lalgola police station area. An hour before the polling began at 7 am, 42-year old Bhavesh Mondal was killed when CPI(M) supporters allegedly threw bombs and fired bullets when a dispute occurred over queue formation. The incident took place at Uttarchar Matherdia Primary School in Rani Nagar police station area. A critically injured person, Rafiqul Islam, was rushed to Kolkata for treatment.