Eleven persons have beeninjured in a clash between workers of the Congress and the ruling Trinamool inWest Midnapore district in West Bengal as voting for the first of the controversialfive-phased panchayat polls in the state got underway today. Senior CPM leader SuryaKanta Mishra was also heckled by Trinamool supporters in the district after hecast this vote this morning.
The elections, which havegenerated much political heat, are being held after the Supreme Court last weekrefused to reschedule its dates which the Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengalgovernment said, were clashing with the holy month of Ramzan. The top court hadalso strongly criticised the state government for dilly-dallying on the issueof holding polls.
Nearly 75 lakh votersacross three districts will stamp the ballot paper the old-fashioned way tochoose representatives to over 10,200 seats. The districts that will witnesspolling today include West Midnapore, Purulia and Bankura, which togethercomprise Junglemahal, an erstwhile Maoist stronghold. Voting will be done forthe three-tier rural bodies - gram panchayat, panchayat samiti and zillaparishad. Security is tight today across the three districts with over 48,000central and state forces having been deployed to ensure smooth voting in 10,038polling stations.
The party has, in all, already grabbed a majority of the 6,274 seats that havebeen won uncontested from the total 58,865 seats that will witness votingacross the five phases on July 11, 15, 19, 22 and 25. A total of 1.7 lakhcandidates are in the fray in over 17 districts in these controversialelections.
Left, BJP, Creating Unrest: Mamata Banerjee On Midnight Attack At Hospital NDTV Impact: Probe Team Ordered Over Minister's Role In Disappearance Supreme Court Creates History, Gives Senior Advocate Tag To Manipur Lawyer Nurse Raped, Killed On Way Home, Body Found 9 Days Later In UP "Don't Expect Anything From Me": Kolkata Hospital's New Principal Loses Cool "Took Advantage Of His Addiction": 5 Charged Over Matthew Perry's Death Ukraine, Russia Both Claim Advances In Kursk Region Gaza Ceasefire Talks Underway In Qatar As Deaths Top 40,000 Trump To Hold Press Conference, His Campaign Adds Senior Advisers Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world.