Bengal poll body under fire for its failing to control violence

The role of the West Bengal state election commission came under fire on Saturday over its alleged failure to ensure a free and fair panchayat election after 18 people were killed on polling day amid allegations of booth capturing and rigging from across the state.

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The state police and the election overseer did not comment on the number of people who died till the time of filing of this report. After Saturday's violence, 37 people have been killed since the state poll panel announced the election dates on June 8, making it the bloodiest rural local body elections in the past decade.

"These are crimes. There would be police complaints, investigations and arrests. Police will take action. We are getting frequent calls. We received around 1,200-1,300 complaints of violence in booths. It would neither be right to say that polls were peaceful nor it would right to say that there was large scale violence. We have to analyse the reports before coming to any conclusion," state election commissioner Rajiva Sinha told the media on Saturday morning.

The state election commission came under heavy criticism from the opposition and governor CV Ananda Bose over its failure to check violence and reluctance to deploy central paramilitary forces. On Saturday, political parties alleged the forces were not adequately deployed in sensitive areas to prevent violence.