Counting begins for West Bengal panchayat polls

Kolkata, May 21 : Counting of votes for three-tier West Bengal panchayat polls began this morning, amid tight security.

Altogether 329 counting centres have been set up in 17 districts of the state.

The counting of Zilla Parishad votes is underway. The counting of votes for Panchayat Samiti and Gram panchayat Boards votes will be held later.

Section 144 Code of Criminal Procedure (Cr.P.C.) has been promulgated in entire Domkal police station area in Murshidabad district and in a radius of 200 metres around all counting centres.

The elections were held in three phases for over 55,000 seats in Gram Panchayat Samiti and Zilla Parishad on May 11, 14 and 18.

The first phase of polls held was generally peaceful, but four persons were killed and at least 15 injured in separate incidents of violence during the second phase of polls.

The clash between Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) activists and the Congress supporters resulted in death of one person at Murshidabad District of West Bengal during the third and final phase of polls.

ANI