Violence mars civic polls in West Bengal 

Crude bombs hurled, EVMs attacked and candidates and agents of Opposition parties driven out of polling booths

Allegations of widespread electoral malpractices and violence marred the elections to 108 civic bodies in 20 districts involving 95 lakh voters in West Bengal held on Sunday.

From north to south and from early morning to late in the afternoon, there were several instances where crude bombs were hurled, EVMs were attacked and candidates and agents of the Opposition parties were driven out of the polling booths.

Violence erupted at Dhulian in Murshidabad and Dalkhoola in Uttar Dinajpur district when the Trinamool Congress supporters clashed with the supporters of independent candidates. The situation spiralled out of control and the police had to fire tear gas shells and use force to control the situation.

Several persons were injured in Kamarhati in the violence in the North 24 Parganas. Apart from crude bomb explosions, people were seen attacking vehicles and motorbikes in Kamarhati which is located on the northern fringes of Kolkata.

Crude bombs were hurled near the polling booths in Halisahar and Garulia municipalities.

EVMs were attacked at least in half a dozen places from Barasat Basirhat, Madhyamgram in the North 24 Parganas, Rajpur–Sonarpur in the South 24 Parganas, Raghunathpur in Murshidabad among other places.

Candidates of the Opposition parties at several places alleged they were beaten up and driven out of the polling booths. A young man serving as an agent of the CPI(M) at Sonarpur in the South 24 Parganas broke down before television channels alleging that he was beaten up when the polling started. Similar allegations were made by women polling agents and candidates of the Left parties at Barasat and a Congress candidate at Behrampore in Murshidabad district.