Voter hacked to death outside West Bengal booth

Murshidabad (West Bengal): A 52-year-old man, claimed to be a Congress activist, was hacked to death outside a polling booth and a three Trinamul Congress (TMC) workers were injured after being hit by a crude bomb hurled at them in separate incidents in Murshidabad Lok Sabha constituency as some incidents of violence were reported during the third phase of voting in West Bengal on Tuesday, the police said.

The fatal attack on a voter took place in Bhagwangola police station area. Two other persons were also injured in the attack which, the Congress alleged, was perpetrated  by workers of the ruling TMC.

The deceased, Tiyarul Kalam, was standing in the queue to cast his vote at a booth in Baligram primary school when a group of men attacked him with sharp weapons following an altercation between Congress and TMC workers, police sources said, adding that he died on way to hospital.

“One person was killed in poll violence in Mur-shidabad,” said a Siddi-hathnath Gupta, additional director general of police (law and order).

“Two other persons were also injured in the attack,” he said.

The Election Commis-sion has sought a report from the Murshidabad district magistrate, a senior official said.

Congress candidate from Murshidabad, Abu Hena, said, “Tiyarul was our party worker. TMC goons killed him when he went to cast his vote. The TMC men were indulging in malpractices inside the booth when Tiyarul reached there. There was an altercation between them following which he was attacked.”

In another incident, three TMC workers were injured after being hit by a crude bomb hurled at them in Domkal municipality of Murshidabad constituency. Some unidentified men hurled the bomb near polling booth 27, 28 in Murshidabad’s Raninagar area, sources said.

In yet another incident, a polling agent was found dead at his house in Buniadpur of Dakshin Dinajpur district.