Minor injured in post-poll violence in Bengal

Kolkata, April 19 (IANS) A Class 7 student sustained a bullet injury during clashes between West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress supporters and BJP activists at Chopra in North Dinajpur district on Friday, a day after Lok Sabha polls were held there, police said.

"Clashes were reported in the morning. Police personnel have been deployed to control the situation. According to locals, a student of Class 7 was caught between the firing and sustained a bullet injury on his left leg. He has been admitted to hospital," a police official said.

No one has been arrested so far but efforts are on to nab the miscreants, he added.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) supporters alleged that bombs were hurled and bullets fired by unidentified men earlier in the day before security was beefed up at Chopra which had witnessed escalating violence between supporters of the rival political parties.

Trinamool activists, on the other hand, accused BJP supporters of vandalising the houses and shops of their supporters.

"Trinamool supporters and leaders are habituated to creating disturbances. We will not allow their goons to create unrest. Our workers are ready to resist them," state BJP President Dilip Ghosh said.

According to the Election Commission, polling on Thursday remained largely peaceful barring sporadic incidents of violence and vandalism, including an attack on a Communist Party of India-Marxist candidate and the smashing of an Electronic Voting Machine (EVM).

Much of the violence during polls on Thursday was reported from Chopra.

Meanwhile, BJP's Hooghly constituency candidate Locket Chatterjee alleged that Trinamool miscreants ransacked home appliances and other things after entering a house where she was residing.

Refuting the allegation, Trinamool local leaders blamed "factional infighting within the BJP".