Minor incidents of violence mar West Bengal elections

June 18th, 2009 AGARTALA - Maoist violence and the ensuing tension in West Bengal should be dealt with administratively, ideologically and politically, said Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar, who is also a senior Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader. "The Left movements in Bengal and across the country are matured enough and have full strength to tackle the Maoist hostility and associated enmity in Bengal," Sarkar told newsmen here Thursday before leaving for New Delhi for a CPI-M politburo meeting.

June 17th, 2009 NEW DELIHI - The Congress Wednesday said the Maoist violence in West Bengal is condemnable but is the result of prolonged misgovernance and subversion of democracy in the state by the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M). What Maoists are doing is condemnable....it is the result of misgovernance and the mistakes that the Left have done during its regime of 32 years in West Bengal.

June 17th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Home Minister P. Chidambaram has said the government is "worried about the consequences" of the violence in West Bengal where three activists of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) were killed by suspected Maoists Wednesday.

June 12th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Congress Friday said the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), which had alleged "semi-fascist" attacks on its cadres in West Bengal, has been the real perpetrator of unprecedented violence in the state for more than two decades. "If at all violence has been perpetrated in West Bengal, it has been by the left party and the workers of the Congress and the Trinamool Congress (TMC) have been at the receiving end of the this violence," Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari told reporters.

June 9th, 2009 KOLKATA - Condemning the recent poll-related violence in West Bengal, Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi Tuesday said such "purposeless violence" was "a matter of regret". "Reports of violence between supporters of different political formations in the wake of elections in our state are a matter of regret.

May 17th, 2009 KOLKATA - West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee is likely to skip the CPI (M) politburo meeting on Monday in Delhi. The reason for the West Bengal Chief Minister skipping the politburo meeting is that he wants to "oversee the law and order situation in the state".

May 7th, 2009 KOLKATA/MATHURA/SRINAGAR - Several incidents of violence were reported from West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Jammu and Kashmir during the fourth phase of Lok Sabha elections on Thursday. In West Bengal, one CPM worker was reportedly killed in the Jangipur Lok Sabha constituency from where incumbent External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee is contesting.

May 7th, 2009 KOLKATA - West Bengal's ruling Left Front Thursday said the second-phase polling was by and large peaceful, except a few sporadic incidents of violence in the state. 'Overall, today's (Thursday) election was more or less conducted in a peaceful manner, except a few incidents of violence triggered by the opposition Trinamool Congress in different parliamentary constituencies,' state Left Front chairman Biman Bose told the media.

May 7th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The fourth round of Lok Sabha elections Thursday witnessed a 57 percent voter turnout, but the polling was marred by clashes mainly in west Bengal, including reports of four dead in poll-related violence, a senior election official said here. 'Overall, for all the states, we can put the voter turnout tentatively at 57 percent.

April 30th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The third phase of Lok Sabha elections Thursday was largely free of extremist violence, unlike the previous phases, the Election Commission said here. 'There were many polling booths under the the 10 Naxal-affected parliamentary constituencies in West Bengal (7) and Bihar (3),' Deputy Election Commissioner R.

April 16th, 2009 KOLKATA - West Bengal's ruling Left Front Thursday expressed apprehension about violence during the first-phase elections in 14 constituencies in the state April 30. The state's northern part, which has witnessed several agitations demanding separate states, and the wewstern districts of West Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia - where Moaists have some presence - go to the polls in the first round.

April 14th, 2009 KOLKATA - The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) faces a tough fight in the Lok Sabha elections but would get a majority of seats in West Bengal, the party's general secretary Prakash Karat said here Tuesday. 'We will have a tough battle in the elections, but we have faced situations in the past when the opposition had virtually come together without an alliance,' Karat told reporters in response to the Congress and Trinamool Congress joining hands in the state.

April 14th, 2009 KOLKATA - Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) general secretary Prakash Karat Tuesday conceded that West Bengal's ruling Left Front (LF) will face a tough battle in the Lok Sabha polls in the state after the Congress-Trinamool Congress pact but hoped it will win majority of seats. 'My party's assessment is that we'll have a tough battle in this election.

March 18th, 2009 KOLKATA - Activists of Trinamool Congress and Congress party organised a yagna here for the success of the alliance of these two parties in the ensuing elections to the Lok Sabha. This was consequent to the finalisation of the tie-up and sharing of seats between the two parties in West Bengal.

March 18th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Election commissioners are leaving for West Bengal and Orissa later Wednesday to review poll preparedness in the two states. The three members of the Election Commission (EC) - Chief Election Commissioner N.