Panchayat poll counting begins in West Bengal

Kolkata, May 21 (IANS) Counting of votes polled in the three-phased panchayat elections in West Bengal began Wednesday. West Bengal state election commission assistant secretary R.N. Mondal told IANS that the counting will finish by evening.

About 51,000 winners will take charge of governance that cover over 38,000 villages and rural areas. est Bengal's three-tier panchayat system comprises of Gram Panchayat, Panchayat Samiti and Zilla Parishad.

The three-phased elections were held across 17 out of 18 West Bengal districts May 11, 14 and 18.  Earlier Even as bitter rivals Congress and CPM engage in a war of words in the seven districts, in the final phase of the panchayat polls, the death toll keeps rising from Murshidabad and Birbhum as these elections have become the bloodiest in the history of panchayat polls in the state.