In separate incidences of violence ahead of the July 8 panchayat elections in West Bengal, a Trinamool Congress (TMC) worker died and a Congress worker was shot at. TMC employee Ziarul Molla, 52, was shot late Saturday night while returning home in Basanti, South 24 Parganas district, according to PTI.
Arif Seikh, a Congress worker, was fired at by unidentified men in Murshidabad district on Sunday night. During an altercation while campaigning for a local panchayat candidate, Seikh was shot at. His situation was severe.
In protest, Congress workers claimed that the TMC was behind the attack on Seikh and blocked roads in Samserganj. They will demonstrate once more today. The TMC, on the other hand, disputed the charge, claiming that the firing episode occurred ‘due to rivalry’ and had ‘nothing to do with politics.’ TMC MLA Amirul Islam also informed India Today that Congress workers headed by panchayat poll candidates fired fire on him.
‘Today, some Congress goons led by candidates Ararul Haque and Iusuf Hussain fired at my car. I was rescued by my security and party men. Congress is trying to create terror in Samshergung as they do not have any foothold in this area. They are attempting to weaken Trinamool,’ Amirul Islam told India Today.
A local Indian Secular Front (ISF) leader alleged that the deceased, a close friend of TMC leader Amarul Laskar, was a ‘victim of infighting within the ruling party’ in the Basanti tragedy. Manwara Molla, a TMC candidate in Kathalberia gramme panchayat, also claimed that her father had appealed to police about ‘frequent threats’ from a rival faction asking him to leave politics, but that ‘law enforcers did not take any action.’
Since the filing of nominations began on June 9, ten persons have been killed in rural poll-related violence in West Bengal.
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