Ruthless attacks on the vanquished Opposition workers continued in West Bengal with at least 8 people losing their lives to alleged Trinamool Congress violence in various parts of the State in the past 24 hours or so, reports said.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee made a public appeal asking the people to remain indoors and refrain from engaging in violence, but political animosity degenerated into bloodshed.

Indian Secular Front worker Hasanur Zaman was repeatedly bombed to death at De Ganga in North 24 Parganas while BJP worker Haran Adhikari was shot in Sonarpur.

Another BJP supporter succumbed to bullet injury at Moynaguri in Jalpaiguri district of North Bengal. A third BJP worker was shot dead at Burapancha village near Sitalkuchi in Cooch Behar where CAPF firing had claimed four lives during the elections.

A woman was bumped off at Ranaghat in Nadia district while a Left supporter was killed in Murshidabad, sources said. Another BJP man was allegedly beaten to death at Beleghata in North Kolkata, party men alleged.

Properties, including motorcycles, of BJP and CPI(M) supporters were destroyed at Chakdaha, Haringhata and other areas of Nadia district, sources said.

Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh alleged that the houses of BJP men were vandalised and torched at Bhagwanpur and Patashpur in East Midnapore while saffron party offices were torched at Balurghat and North Dinajpur in North Bengal. He appealed to the Chief Minister to “stop this carnage and let the people live in peace.”

Ghosh led a team of BJP leaders to meet the Governor at Raj Bhavan. He  said, “Elections are over and whatever ill-feeling should now be forgotten… Instead of that our workers and those of some other political parties are being systematically targeted, beaten up, murdered and their properties destroyed. We have been forced to transfer the victims of this violence to other safer places. I request the Chief Minister to order her men to stop this or else we shall be forced to resume campaign from tomorrow.”

Refuting the charges, TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said, “Our leader Mamata Banerjee has asked people not to indulge in violence. In none of the cases, the TMC is involved. In fact, it is the fight between the old and the new BJP men. The old BJP men are beating up the new entrants who went from the TMC.”