Four people were killed as CISF personnel allegedly opened fire after coming under attack from locals outside a polling booth in West Bengal's Cooch Behar district on Saturday. Reacting to the incident, West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee said "worst fears have come true". "We have been saying that the home ministry has been influencing the central forces and our worst fears have come true today. They have killed four people," Mamata Banerjee said. Following the violence at the polling booth, the Election Commission has sought a report within an hour from DEO Cooch Behar. "We have received information that a person was shot dead outside a polling booth in Sitalkuchi in Cooch Behar district. We have sought a report from the micro-observer as soon as possible and the returning officer was called up to know about the situation," an election official said.
While the TMC alleged that the BJP was behind the killing, the saffron party claimed that the deceased was its polling agent at the booth and pointed the accusing finger at the ruling party in the state. In a statement released by Trinamool Congress, the Mamata Banerjee-led party blamed "BJP miscreants" for the incident." Since morning BJP miscreants were blocking people's right to vote while CRPF was influencing voters to vote in favour of BJP. When TMC workers went to enquire why people were not being allowed to vote, BJP miscreants launched an attack creating an atmosphere of chaos, following which CRPF open fired leading to 5 TMC workers losing their lives," the TMC said in the statement. Meanwhile, Sitalkuchi's BJP candidate Baren Chandra Barman said that a deceased person was the party's polling agent at the booth and TMC activists were behind the murder. "He was our polling agent and was going to the booth when TMC goons shot him dead. Rabindra Nath Ghosh's claim is a total lie. We have informed the SP and the ECI about the incident, demanding immediate arrest of the culprits," Barman said.He also claimed that police or central forces were not present near the booth when the killing took place.