Amidst a tense polling ambience across the twin constituencies, the polling personnel assigned to conduct voting in Bardhaman Durgapur and Bardhaman Purba panicked due to the menace of snakes within the booth premises. This, after two polling officials have been bitten by snakes and were shifted to hospital immediately for medical supervision.

The polling personnel, heading to booths were equipped with carbolic acid, an unusual article in their kit during their departure from the respective DCRC stations yesterday. The carbolic acid was first provided in July, last year during the panchayat election. Carbolic acid is commonly used as a snake repellent as the venomous reptiles have the ability to sense the intense smell of the acid causing them to feel uncomfortable.

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Two snake bite cases were recorded inside the polling booths in East Burdwan district after the assigned polling personnel took charge of the premises last evening. At the Silver Jubilee Institute booth (No. 224) in Dignagar village in Ausgram, a Group-D staff, Sukanta Ankure was beaten by a Russell viper while he was bringing out utensils for the polling party from inside a room of the school. At the local Bishnupur Free Primary School booth (No. 121) of Memari, the third polling officer Bholanath Rajak was beaten by a cobra at midnight. Both the polling personnel were shifted to the hospital immediately.

East Burdwan recorded 229 deaths due to snake bites since February 2023, the district forest officials said.