Violence Puts Election Commission On Watch

Kolkata: The murder in Sabang, 48 hours before the second round of polls on Monday, has triggered a spate of violence across Bengal when most states with a violent political history have already shed their gory past.
A BJP candidate was shot at in South Dinajpur and the houses of several CPM activists set on fire in Burdwan's colliery belt, Pandabeswar.Violence crept closer to Kolkata with goons ransacking CPM offices in Sodepur, North 24-Parganas.
Left Front chairman Biman Bose was mobbed by Trinamool men on Tuesday when he was on his way out after reopening a CPM party office in Tangra. The office was under lock and key following a legal dispute with the landowner.
The vortex of violence seems to be spiralling out of control at a time when the state administration is under the Election Commission.
A bike gang barged into the CPM party office in Panshila Sadhumore in Sodepur in the dead of the night. "Around 15 to 20 goons came armed with iron rods and lathis. They broke open the party office at 1.30am and ransacked it, tore all the papers, smashed furniture and dumped them in the sewers. They fled when local CPM supporters came out to challenge them," said a leader.
"The goons then threw stones at the houses of CPM activists," he added. The gang moved on to another CPM office under in Panihati Municipality and damaged it.
CPM supporters filed a complaint at Khardah police station on Tuesday, but no one has been arrested yet. Trinamool men also targeted CPM families at Burdwan's Pandabeswar soon after the end of voting in round-2.
The spectre of violence seems headed for north Bengal. In South Dinajpur'sGangarampur, BJP candidate Sanatan Karmakar was shot at by alleged Trinamool-backed goons. "They fired thrice but I had a narrow escape. The bullets hit the wall beside me," Karmakar said. BJP has filed complaints with police and EC. Local Trinamool leader Kalyan Das denied the charge, saying: "Why should we attack BJP when it is not a threat?"
The relentless violence is an indication that EC has not been able to get the administration to use central forces effectively. CPM leader from Pandebswar Gouranga Chatterjee said police and the EC are of no help to them.
The EC had announced confidence-building measures, but the lack of it in many areas led Left Front chairman Biman Bose to allege that the EC's lack of initiative could be the result of an understanding between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief minister Mamata Banerjee. "We are shocked by the manner in which the process of free and fair elections has been disrupted and undermined by Trinamool-backed miscreants on the second day of polling," the CPM politburo said.