40 WB poll officers injured

Forty poll officials were injured, 14 of them seriously, when their bus collided head-on with a truck at Alampur in Malda district.

Forty poll officials were injured, 14 of them seriously, when a bus, requisitioned for election duty, collided head-on with a truck at Alampur in Malda district of West Bengal on Sunday, a senior police official said.

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The poll party was heading towards Buniadpur in Gajole area of the district when the mishap occurred, Superintendent of Police Sasikant Pujari said.

The injured were being treated at Gajole Hospital, the SP said. The truck driver sped away with the vehicle.

Meanwhile, District Magistrate of Malda Asok Bala requested his counterpart in adjacent South Dinajpur district to help in replacements for 14 injured officials. The polling station in Buniadpur falls under Balurghat Lok Sabha seat of South Dinajpur where election would take place on Monday.

No EVM, being taken in the bus, was damaged in the mishap, according to Pujari.