Four people were killed during clashes between BJP and Trinamool Congress workers in Cooch Behar district which is voting in the fourth phase of the eight-phased state polls, sources in the Election Commission told NDTV. The ruling Trinamool Congress, however claimed that five people have died in the clashes at Sitalkuchi constituency amid polling. The Election Commission has adjourned polling and has sought a report over the incident.
Earlier, BJP released audio clips in which Prashant Kishor, Mamata Banerjee's election strategist for the Bengal polls, appears to say that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is "as popular as" the Chief Minister in the state, prompting Mr Kishor to dare the BJP to release the full transcript of the chat on Clubhouse. "I am glad BJP guys are taking my Clubhouse chat more seriously than the words or their own leaders. With regards to the selective and distorted use of part of the conversation, I urge them to release the full conversation," the poll strategist told NDTV.
Forty-four seats covering Cooch Behar and Alipurduar districts in north Bengal and parts of South 24 Parganas, Howrah and Hoogly in the southern part of the state are voting today. Union Minister Babul Supriyo, state ministers Partha Chatterjee and Arup Biswas are among the 373 candidates in the fourth phase.
The fourth phase witnessed high-decibel campaigns by the BJP and Trinamool Congress. While the BJP targeted chief minister Mamata Banerjee, her nephew Abhishek Banerjee accusing them of corruption and "appeasement politics", the Trinamool hit back on the BJP-led central government over recent hike in prices of gas, petrol, diesel, besides plans to disinvest in a large number of central government run PSUs. Ms Banerjee also accused central police forces of harassing and intimidating voters and urged voters to "gherao" them - a remark for which she received a notice from the Election Commission.
A total of 1.15 crore people, including 290 members of the third gender, are eligible to vote in the 44 constituencies spread over Howrah (Part II), South 24 Parganas (Part III), Hooghly (Part II) in south Bengal and in north Bengal's Alipurduar and Coochbehar.
