M A I N   N E W S

Violence mars repoll in WB

Kolkata, May 12
A CPM activist was killed and two other partymen seriously wounded in a post-poll clash with the Trinamool Congress supporters in Midnapore district, while the police fired eight rounds in the air to disperse warring activists of the two parties in South 24 Parganas district today, the police said.

CPM activist Krishnapada Khatua (28) was killed and the two others wounded in an armed clash at Upalda village under Pingla police station in Midnapore district in which guns and bombs were used.

The clash followed the kidnapping of a CPM supporter, Gurupada Khamroi by Trinamool activists from the village last night. In retaliation, CPM supporters attacked Upalda village with bombs and guns and Trinamool men launched a counter attack this afternoon, the sources said.

The police later arrested four Trinamool activists.

The two injured CPM supporters were admitted to Midnapore Sadar Hospital.

The police also fired eight rounds in the air to disperse warring CPM and Trinamool activists before two booths during repoll under the Bishnupur (East) Assembly constituency in South 24 Parganas district.

The two groups threw bombs, creating panic among the voters at the Salpukur area in the constituency today before the police swung into action, Chief Electoral Officer Sabyasachi Sen said here.

Eight Trinamool Congress workers, who were “moving around suspiciously” in a vehicle near some booths under the Kharda Assembly constituency at Titagarh, were arrested, Mr Sen said.

Another five persons were injured in a bomb blast at Chowlpatty under Beliaghata police station in the eastern part of the city this evening, the Kolkata police said.

They were making bombs when the explosion occurred.

The injured were admitted to the Nil Ratan Sarcar Medical College and Hospital.

The police, however, could not confirm whether the injured had any political affiliation.

Trinamool sources said party chief Mamata Banerjee, who camped in Kharda following reports that CPM activists had been “intimidating genuine voters” in the area, left for Kolkata in the evening.

GUWAHATI: A high voter turnout of 72.6 per cent was registered on Saturday as repolling in 75 polling stations spread across 19 constituencies in Assam’s Brahmaputra valley ended peacefully.

A polling station in Gossaigaon registered the highest voter turnout of 82 per cent, while another in Bilasipara (East) polled just 1 per cent less. The lowest of 56.2 per cent was recorded at Sadiya, election office sources said.

The polling, held with unprecedented security, was entirely peaceful, they said.

Repolling was ordered by the commission following attempts at rigging and snatching of ballot papers in 206 polling stations during the assembly election on Thursday.

Repoll would be held tomorrow in 131 polling stations of 13 Barak valley constituencies, the highest being 36 in Hailakandi.

CHENNAI: Polling in the six stations including in city’s Harbour constituency, where the Election Commission had ordered repolling for the May 10 Assembly poll, began on a dull note, official sources said.

The repolling began at 7 a.m. in Chennai Harbour, Aruppukottai, Vellore, Villupuram, Tuticorin and Thiruverambur assembly constituencies and a polling booth in Tiruchi lok sabha constituency, the sources said.

The repolling was ordered following reports from the returning officers and election observers of bogus voting and malfunctioning of electronic voting machines. PTI

Counting begins today
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 12
The counting of ballots for Assembly elections in West Bengal, Assam, Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry and Kerala will be taken up tomorrow and thanks to electronic voting machines (EVMs) the first results are expected in about an hour from the beginning of the exercise.

With some of the constituencies in Pondicherry having just 10 to 20 thousand voters, the results are expected to be announced in those seats by 9 a.m. The counting would begin at 8 a.m.

The overall trends in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala are expected by afternoon as the polling had been totally on electronic voting machines (EVMs), Deputy Election Commissioner Subhash Pani said. In Assam, the counting will take a longer time, except in four constituencies where polling had been conducted through EVMs.

Polls were held in 294 constituencies of West Bengal, 234 of Tamil Nadu, 140 in Kerala, 126 of Assam and 30 in Pondicherry.

All India Radio will broadcast special news bulletins and programmes on latest results, trends and analysis by experts of the Assembly elections in five states, a UNI report said.

The series will begin tomorrow at 11a.m. with live Radio Bridge Programme connecting the Delhi studios with Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Kolkata, Guwahati and Pondicherry, AIR Additional Director General (News) B. L. Saini said in an official release here today.

The programmes would be aired till 5 p.m. The duration of the 6 p.m English bulletin and 6.05 p.m Hindi bulletin has been extended by five minutes each. The evening prime time bulletin in Hindi would begin at 8.30 p.m and would be of half hour duration.