E-Paper
VIDEO: On repolling day, 35 crude bombs recovered from pond, field in Bengal's Murshidabad
35 crude bombs were recovered on a day fresh voting was underway for Panchayat polls in nearly 700 booths in West Bengal
Amid the fresh polling at nearly 700 booths for panchayat elections in West Bengal, 35 crude bombs were recovered from a pond and a nearby field in the Beldanaga area of Murshidabad district. A team of bomb disposal squad reached the spot along with a team of local police to neutralise the bombs.
In a video, a member of the bomb disposal squad was seen neutralising and collecting the bombs in a bag. Among the districts where repolling was being held, violence-hit Murshidabad has the highest number of booths at 175, followed by Malda with 109, reported PTI.
Fresh voting was ordered by the State Election Commission (SEC) in 696 booths amid allegations of tampering with ballot boxes and the violence that left 15 people dead. Visuals from the violence-hit various districts of West Bengal on the polling day showed a police vehicle set on fire, a miscreant running away with the ballot box, and a ballot box was set on fire.
In Murshidabad, miscreants torched a police vehicle in the evening after the voting got over.
A polling booth in Malda's Mahadipur area saw a miscreant running away with the ballot box while, in Dinhata, a ballot box was set on fire allegedly by voters who were angry over bogus voting. The polling was suspended at Indreshwar primary school in Dinhata after water was thrown into the ballot box.
On Monday, no major incident was reported as fresh polling was underway in 696 booths in 19 districts of West Bengal where voting for the panchayat elections was declared void. The repolling started at 7 am amid tight security with four central forces personnel deployed in each booth, besides state police. Till 1 pm, 30.54 per cent voter turnout was recorded.
"No major untoward incidents were reported from the districts where repolling is underway. A couple of stray incidents happened and those were managed by the police," an SEC official said.
In Malda, locals blocked a booth in Dogachi in Raniganj panchayat in Gazole block, preventing the repoll. Polling could not be held on Saturday too as locals boycotted the vote demanding the repair of a road.
As polling could not be held on Saturday, a repolling was ordered but that also could not be held as locals locked the booth, an official said.
(With inputs from agencies)
