Violence during the filing of nomination papers for the rural body polls continued on Thursday with unconfirmed reports of the deaths of four persons in two separate incidents of political clashes.

Considering the reports of poll violence, Calcutta High Court later in the evening directed that the rural elections should be held under the blanket security cover of Central forces. A Division Bench of the court ordered the State Election Commission to seek Central forces for deployment in the state within 48 hours. In an earlier order, the division Bench had ordered deployment of central forces in only seven sensitive districts of the state.

The SEC and the state government had filed a review petition of this order. With the reports of four deaths on Thursday, the last day for filing of nomination papers, the death toll in connection with the political clash since the dates of the gram panchayat polls in the state were announced by the West Bengal State Election Commission on 8 June has reached five.

Two persons were killed when CPI-M and Congress candidates along with their party workers were proceeding to the Chopra BDO office file nomination papers during the day. The procession was fired upon, and three CPIM workers sustained bullet injuries.

Two of the injured later died at a a local hospital. Bhangar in South 24- Parganas, the scene of clashes between the Trinamul Congress and opposition Indian Secular Front (ISF) and CPI-M, over the past few days, turned into a battle ground on Thursday, with rival groups hurling bombs at each other throughout the day, despite the presence of armed police. Two persons, said to belong to the ISF and Trinamul Congress died in the clashes during filing of nomination papers. “The opposition that has recently won elections there in Bhangar has started trouble first on Tuesday.

They damaged establishments, torching fire and looted properties by shouting communal slogans there. They are misguiding locals. Our party has no involvement in any incident of violence related to filling of nomination papers in districts,” chief minister Miss Mamata Banerjee said in Diamond Harbour, blaming the ISF without taking its name.

Trinamul Congress was not involved in the Chopra incident either, she said. Leaders of the CPI-Mled Left Front, including Biman Bose, Bikashranjan Bhattacharya and others met the WBSEC commissioner Rajiva Sinha demanding adequate security arrangements for free and fair polls.

While speaking to reporters after meeting Mr Sinha, Mr Bose, the LF chairman, told reporters: “The state election commission is sitting silent despite deaths being reported since the announcement of date of polls.” CPI-M workers staged demonstration in front of the commission office in protest against the deaths of workers in the political clashes.