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Bengal BJP worker killed as political tussle heats up
The body of BJP worker Shambhu Das was found with multiple stab wounds in a jute plantation in the district’s Dinhata area, police said
Kolkata:
A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) worker was found dead in West Bengal’s Cooch Behar district late on Saturday as the political tussle in the state intensified against the backdrop of a spate of violence ahead of the crucial panchayat elections.
The body of BJP worker Shambhu Das, who was also a relative of a party candidate, was found with multiple stab wounds in a jute plantation in the district’s Dinhata area, police said.
“An investigation has started. We are questioning several people including a woman and her daughter,” a district police officer said on condition of anonymity. Seven people have died in separate cases of alleged political violence in the state since June 9, when the filing of nominations for the July 8 elections began. The nomination period concluded on Friday.
On June 15, the Calcutta high court ordered the deployment of central paramilitary forces to ensure free and fair panchayat polls.
The court order came on separate petitions filed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Suvendu Adhikari and state Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury.
The BJP blamed the ruling Trinamool Congress for Das’s murder, saying that it was trying to intimidate Opposition candidates to withdraw their nominations. “TMC has unleashed a reign of terror to grab maximum seats in the panchayat elections, ” BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar said. The last date for withdrawing nominations is June 20.
Union minister of state (home) Nisith Pramanik said Das was murdered by miscreants sheltered by the TMC. “Whenever poll dates are announced in West Bengal, opposition party activists and their family members are killed by members and supporters of the ruling party. There have been attacks even on my life by TMC goons in the past as policemen, who have become stooges of the ruling party, watched silently,” he said. This year, the TMC has fielded 85,817 candidates, followed by the BJP with 56,321 candidates. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has fielded 48,648 candidates and the Congress 17,750 nominees, the SEC said on Friday.
The last panchayat polls in 2018 witnessed large-scale violence and around 20 murders, with opposition parties alleging that their candidates were not allowed to file nominations and were intimidated. The TMC bagged around 90% of the seats, of which 34% were uncontested.
The TMC has emerged uncontested winner at around 20 panchayat samiti seats in Hooghly, East Burdwan and Bankura districts, according to according to the party’s district leaders.
The CPI(M) won two reserved gram panchayat seats in the Raina area of East Burdwan district after two TMC candidates nominations were rejected during the scrutiny of papers, according to Apurba Chatterjee, CPI(M) district committee member.
