Twelve killed as violence mars West Bengal panchayat polls

TMC downplayed the violence, saying it was far less compared to the Left Front rule

Widespread violence during the panchayat polls in West Bengal on Monday left at least 12 people dead and 43 injured, as 73 per  cent of the electorate turned up to cast their vote.

Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Anuj Sharma said there were reports of 12 deaths but only six of them have been confirmed to be poll-related. “We are looking into the cause of six other deaths,” he said.  

Notwithstanding the elaborate security arrangements in which 60,000 security personnel from West Bengal and other states were deployed, violence broke out in North and South 24 Parganas, East Midnapore,