A CPM worker and his wife were burnt alive after their home was locked and set on fire allegedly by some Trinamool Congress men early on Monday. (LIVE UPDATES)

COMMERCIAL BREAK
SCROLL TO CONTINUE READING

The incident took place around 1 am on Monday when Debu Das and his wife Usha were sleeping in their home in Kachharibari area of North 24 Parganas district. (VIOLENCE IN COOCH BEHAR)

They both died in their sleep after some Trinamool men torched their house in Kakdweep region. 

Locals doused the fire and later retrieved the bodies of the two. Police have sent the bodies for a post-mortem.

Although TMC workers have been alleged to have done it, local TMC leaders said that the fire was sparked from a short circuit.

The voting that started at 7 am will continue till 5 pm in 621 zilla parishads, 6157 panchayat samitis, and 31827 gram panchayats. The counting will take place on May 17.

Considering the history of violence in the state panchayat polls, elaborate security arrangements have been made to maintain law and order during the polling.

Around 46,000 personnel of West Bengal Police, 12,000 of Kolkata Police will get support from around 1,500 security personnel from other states.

It is notable that there was widespread violence between the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) and opposition parties during the nomination filing process that claimed lives on many people.

While West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee claimed that 14 Trinamool supporters were killed in the violence, the state unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alleged that its 52 supporters were killed.

The run up to the Panchayat Polls also saw a legal battle that reached up to the Supreme Court.

On May 10, the apex court set aside Calcutta High Court order that asked West Bengal Election Commission (WBEC) to accept nominations for Panchayat polls through e-mail.

The WBEC had challenged the order of the Calcutta High Court, which on May 8 had directed the WBEC to accept nominations of Communist Party of India- Marxist (CPI-M), which had reportedly filed around 800 nominations through email within the stipulated time before 3 pm on April 23.