Campaign for West Bengal rural body election ends, toll at 18
Hindustan TimesThree more people were killed in West Bengal on Thursday, taking the toll from political violence during the panchayat polls campaign to 18, even as campaigning drew to a close with voting scheduled for July 8. Senior police officers said that a man identified as Kamal Sheikh was killed in an explosion while he was manufacturing crude bombs in Murshidabad; Dilip Mahara, the husband of a BJP-backed independent candidate was found dead in Birbhum -- though police refused to divulge more information, locals alleged that he was strangulated; and a man named Alfazuddin Halder, seriously injured in a clash between supporters of TMC and an independent candidate at Kulpi in South 24 Paraganas on Monday, died at a Kolkata hospital on Thursday. At a press conference at Raj Bhavan on Thursday, governor CV Ananda Bose, who has been touring violence-hit areas over the past two weeks, lashed out at the state election commissioner. The governor, who had appointed the state election commissioner Rajiva Sinha on June 7 said that he the official had “disappointed the people”. Though no officials of the state poll panel were available for comment when HT reached out, the Trinamool Congress hit back at the comments, and said that the governor was acting on the BJP’s behalf.