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Top BJP leader's aide shot dead in violence after Indian state election
The aide to a top leader from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's party has been shot dead in violence that broke out after elections in West Bengal state.
Chandranath Rath was personal assistant to Suvendu Adhikari, seen as the front-runner to become the state's new chief minister after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won the vote.
Rath was on his way home on Wednesday night when he was killed. Police are investigating but haven't made any arrests yet.
Rath is among at least three people killed in the eastern state since Monday when results were announced. Police said before Rath's death that they had arrested more than 400 people in connection with incidents of violence and intimidation.
Violence is not uncommon in West Bengal after elections, with clashes often breaking out between rival party workers.
On Monday, the BJP marked a historic victory in the state, which it has never won before, ending a 15-year-rule by Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress (TMC) party.
Tensions have been high in West Bengal for weeks, with the elections having been conducted in the backdrop of a controversial exercise to clean up voter rolls that left millions of people off the list.
Banerjee has alleged that the exercise removed thousands of non-BJP voters, paving the way for her defeat. The BJP and India's Election Commission have repeatedly denied these allegations.
Rath's murder has escalated tensions, leading to fears of an increase in the scale of violence.
Adhikari called the death "heartwrenching". "This is a cold-blooded murder," he told reporters.
Police said they had found a car that was used in the crime but that its licence plate number was incorrect.
"We also found live rounds and fired cartridges from the spot," West Bengal police chief Siddh Nath Gupta said.
A witness told media that the shot was fired by a person on a motorcycle, but police have not commented on this or the number of attackers.
The TMC, in a statement, strongly condemned the killing.
"Violence and political killings have no place in a democracy and the guilty must be held accountable at the earliest," the party said, demanding a court-monitored investigation.
Both parties have claimed that their workers have been killed in post-poll violence - the BJP two and the TMC three, each blaming the other. Police have not confirmed the party affiliations of the two victims other than Rath.
Adhikari and other BJP leaders alleged that law and order in West Bengal had deteriorated under Banerjee's rule.
"As soon as our chief minister takes the oath and our government assumes power, everything will be set right though it may take a little time," said BJP's Sukanta Majumdar, a junior federal minister.
The state's new chief minister is expected to be sworn in on Saturday. The BJP has not confirmed the name yet, but Adhikari, a former TMC leader who moved to the BJP, is the front runner.
The BJP had on Monday secured a landslide victory in the state polls, winning 207 seats of 294. Adhikari also defeated Banerjee from the Bhabanipur constituency, which was her stronghold.
Since then, the party has conducted victory rallies across the state, with supporters chanting slogans of 'Jai Shree Ram' (Victory to Lord Ram).
However, visuals of arson and vandalism have emerged from many districts, including Murshidabad, Birbhum, Kolkata and Howrah.
TMC has accused BJP workers of vandalising and even setting fire to some of its party offices. The BJP has denied this.
The party also accused BJP workers of bringing in a bulldozer to demolish meat shops in a famous market in state capital Kolkata, a sensitive issue in a state where choice of food was a major campaign talking point.
TMC said that the incident reflected a "pattern of intimidation" and signalled a "dangerous precedent" for law and order.
The BJP did not directly respond to these comments but state party chief Samik Bhattacharya said it did not support any act of violence.
A senior police officer told PTI news agency that there was a meeting in the market to celebrate the BJP's victory but that "no untoward incident" had taken place.
A senior police officer told the BBC on Wednesday that the police and district administration had received directives from Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar to monitor law and order in the state and take immediate action in case of violence or vandalism.
West Bengal's recurring election violence stems from its entrenched "party society", says Zaad Mahmood, who teaches political science at Kolkata's Presidency University, told the BBC.
Coined by political scientist Dwaipayan Bhattacharyya to describe decades of Communist rule, the term captures how party affiliation became embedded in daily rural life and livelihoods.
"In the last decade or so, we've seen more atrocities around political identity than caste or religion," Mahmood told the BBC, arguing that in many rural areas survival itself is tied to party loyalty, making any change in power feel existential.
While deaths this election cycle are lower than in previous years, he said violence goes beyond casualties, creating a pervasive atmosphere of intimidation before, during and after polls.
Source: BBC
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