One dead, candidate’s car attacked as restive Indian state of West Bengal votes

The state, India’s worst hotbed of political violence, is holding elections as PM Narendra Modi seeks to unseat one of his fiercest opponents

Modi’s BJP faces a tough opponent in firebrand chief minister Mamata Banerjee, 66, whose Trinamool Congress party took power in 2011

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A paramilitary personnel distributes facemasks to voters standing in queue to cast their ballots in West Bengal. Photo: AFP

Published: 2:28pm, 27 Mar 2021Updated: 2:28pm, 27 Mar 2021

One person was killed and a candidate’s car attacked Saturday as the state of West Bengal – India’s worst hotbed of political violence – held elections, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking to unseat one of his fiercest opponents.

Victory in the eastern region of 90 million would be a major achievement for Modi’s Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party as it looks to expand its power base beyond its Hindi-speaking northern heartlands.

But in a state where thousands have died since the 1960s, fresh incidents of violence were reported with police saying that a mob attacked the vehicle of a communist party candidate in one district.

The president of the BJP in the state Dilip Ghosh said one of its supporters was killed by members of the ruling Trinamool Congress party in the same area in the early hours.

“His body was found in the compound of his mud hut,” he said.