Mamata blames oppn for violence in panchayat poll nomination

Talking to reporters outside a party office at Maheshtala near here, Banerjee, also the Trinamool Congress supremo, asserted that those who "were non-performers" have been denied tickets by the party this time.

Kolkata:Claiming that nobody from her party was connected with the incidents of violence related to nomination filing for upcoming panchayat elections in the state, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday accused the opposition parties of trying to malign the state by orchestrating violence.

Banerjee blamed the Indian Secular Front (ISF) for the unrest in Bhangar in South 24 Parganas and CPI-M responsible for the death in North Dinajpur's Chopra. "Opposition parties are trying to create disturbances by orchestrating violence while filing nominations. They are doing it to tarnish the state's image. The CPI-M is behind today's violence in the Chopra and ISF is attacking our party workers in Bhangar," she said while talking to reporters outside party office in Maheshtala.

Violence and bloodshed have rocked several districts since filing of nomination started. Till now, five persons have died of which four deaths were recorded today itself. Reacting to this, Banerjee said disturbance was recorded in only three to four areas of the 74,000 polling booths. She dismissed Opposition parties' allegations of obstructions during filing of nominations, saying: "Our party has issued a clear instruction that nobody who comes to submit nomination papers will be stopped." She said that lakhs of nomination papers have been submitted which has never happened in the past. She said that those who "were non-performers" have been denied tickets by the party this time.

Giving a detailed account of the past incidents of violence during rural polls, Banerjee said 36 people died on the panchayat polls in 2003 and despite the then state election commissioner Mira Pandey calling in central forces, the death toll remained 39. She said that the main problem in rural polls is that many members from the same family contest following which there are instances of family unrest.

With violence intensifying in Chopra today, two persons, one belonging to CPI-M and the other from Congress died while in Bhangar, an ISF member and a TMC worker succumbed to their injuries.

Banerjee also slammed the BJP-led central government for stopping the due funds for the state and using central agencies to threaten the TMC.

CPI-M state secretary Md Salim said they were supporters of the Left Front and the Congress, and the incident happened when they were going to the Chopra block office for filing nominations.

State Election Commissioner Rajiva Sinha declined to comment on the incident, saying that he was yet to receive a report regarding it. Salim alleged that the TMC was behind the attack.