The Election Commission has made elaborate security arrangements to avert blood-shed on the counting-day even as rampaging Trinamool Congress men ‘celebrated’ their victory in exit-polls by felling two Opposition heads, one at Khejuri off Nandigram in East Midnapore and the other at Malda in North Bengal.
While the Khejuri victim Samir Mondal a CPI(M) worker was bludgeoned to death by an alleged Trinamool crowd a Congress panchayat member Md Atim Sheikh was shot dead in Malda as he defied Trinamool diktat and worked for his party during the elections, said Congress block president Abdul Rehman.
Alleged Trinamool workers attacked the Opposition at Natabari in North Bengal, Jagacha at Howrah, bombed CPI(M) offices at central Howrah, police said adding some arrests had been made.
About five people have died and scores injured in post-poll violence in Bengal.
What subaltern Trinamool leaders called a “trailer” of what was going to come after the results were formally declared on Thursday, dozens of CPI(M) houses were ransacked and torched in Mohanpur at Bhatar block in Burdwan district even as locals fled villages in hordes.
Similar situations were witnessed in boondocks of Hooghly district beyond Arambagh sub-division where opposition houses were raided and torched by rampaging Trinamool men who were celebrating the outcome of the exit polls that predicted a smooth-sailing for Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
Curiously notwithstanding repeated calls of all-party meeting — by the administration — to thwart post-counting violence found lukewarm or no response from the Trinamool leadership. At Birbhum ruled by party strongman Anubrata Mandal the district Trinamool leadership responded to a proposed peace-meeting by passing the buck on the higher leadership.
“If the topmost leadership wants us to join the peace meeting then we will do so,” said Mandal while the “top leadership” in Kolkata remained mysteriously silent apparently dropping clear hint of what was going to come post Thursday.
The Chief Minister had during numerous of her poll rallies threatened to settle score “inch-by-inch” once the elections were over and once the Central forces went back. Mondal on the other hand threatened to treat the opposition to “sweets and drum beats” (read attacks).
Incidentally some affected families from Jadavpur in Kolkata had already appealed to the Election Commission for adequate compensation and security posting in the wake of midnight attacks on their houses just after the elections. With the ECI yet to respond to their petition the affected families were planning to move the Calcutta High Court.
Meanwhile, to pre-empt any violence after counting the ECI has made elaborate preparations deploying 78 companies of Central Forces at 90 centres were counting will be held on Thursday. A three-layered security structure has been thrown around Kolkata were 7 companies of Central Forces will man the counting centres. The second layer will be manned by Rapid Action Force and Combat force while the third layer will be handled by a 2,000-strong contingent of Kolkata Police.
For the first time the ECI was putting on duty a micro-observer drawn from the central government staff for every table, Commission sources said.