By IANS,
Kolkata : Two people were killed and two injured in election related violence in West Bengal, including in volatile Nandigram, during the second phase of polling in 17 Lok Sabha constituencies Thursday.
In Domkol under Murshidabad Lok Sabha seat, a miscreant affiliated to a political party succumbed to his injuries sustained while making bombs Wednesday.
In Murshidabad district’s Jangipur Lok Sabha constituency, from where External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee is seeking re-election, a voter was killed when miscreants hurled bombs at a queue before a polling booth, state Chief Secretary Ashok Mohan Chakraborty told reporters.
Two people died in East Midnapore district — a Border Security Force (BSF) personnel passed away after a cerebral attack while on poll duty in Nandigram and a voter died of a sunstroke.
In trouble-torn Nandigram, two people were seriously injured when their heads were hit with rifle butts as activists of the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) and the opposition Trinamool Congress clashed in at least two places.
“Two people have been injured in a political clash in Nandigram’s Adhikaripara area. They were taken to Khejuri block hospital with serious head injuries,” East Midnapore Police Superintendent Pallab Kanti Ghosh told IANS.
“The situation has been brought under control now,” Ghosh added.
Clashes also took place in the Gokulnagar area.
“The political clashes mainly took place in the rural pockets in locations away from the booths. So it did not affect the polling process,” a police officer said.
Nandigram falls under Tamluk Lok Sabha constituency where sitting MP Laxman Seth of the CPI-M is engaged in a tough contest with the Trinamool Congress’ Subhendu Adhikari.
Nandigram became a synonym for political violence after protests over land being acquired for a chemical hub in the region.
Violence had broken out in Nandigram early 2007 after local farmers, backed by the Trinamool Congress-led opposition parties, protested the state government’s land acquisition bid for a proposed chemical hub project with Indonesia’s Salim Group.