Sarada Gorai, the aunt-in-law of Chapala Gorai, one of the Bloc leaders killed in the Maoist attack, at her home in Bagbinda on Tuesday. Picture by Pradip Sanyal

Bagbinda (Purulia), May 10: Purulia may have recorded an 80.4 per cent turnout today but residents of a village where four Forward Bloc members were killed by alleged Maoists five months ago mostly stayed away.

“Our lives are more important than our vote,” said Aju Paramanik, a resident of Bagbinda village. “We manage one square meal a day. That is much better than ending up with a bullet in the head,” Paramanik, the village barber, said.

The polling booths for three villages — Bagbinda, Noagarh and Chirutar — had been set up in Bagbinda. Although 30 per cent of the 1,097 voters in these villages cast their ballots, most of them were from Noagarh and Chirutar. The low turnout was in sharp contrast with that of Baghmundi, the constituency under which Bagbinda falls. The seat recorded a turnout of 81.78 per cent, the highest in the district.

In Bagbinda, the majority of the residents stayed away for fear of Maoist attacks. Several of the residents said the Maoist strike that killed four villagers was still fresh on their minds. The relatives of the four victims had fled the village after the attack. The kin of only one of them turned up to vote today.

When The Telegraph visited Bagbinda, situated at the foothills of the Maoist-affected Ayodhya Hills, this morning, it found the doors of the houses of the four victims locked from outside. On the night of December 16, the Maoists had dragged the four Bloc members out of their homes and shot them dead, accusing them of being police informers. Three more part members in neighbouring Gutilowa, Chirutar and Noagarh were killed in similar fashion.

Sarada Gorai, the aunt-in-law of Bagbinda village pradhan Chapala Gorai who was one of the victims, said today: “Chapala’s husband Dukhu and son Bijoy fled their home after the attack. They did not come to vote today. I also did not vote.”

Sarada, 65, said she knew that massive security arrangements had been made. “But I did not fearing another Maoist attack,” she said, whispering the name of the place where Dhuku and Bijoy had taken refuge.

Subrata Mahato, the grandson of 80-year-old Bloc member Gopeswar Mahato who was another of the victims, also did not vote. “I was not at home on the night of the attack. I still don’t understand why the rebels killed an old man,” he said. Like Subrata, the wife and children of the fourth victim, Gobardhan Singh, stayed away from the polling booth. All of them have fled Bagbinda.

Only the relatives of Kinkar Singh, another victim, voted. They came to Bagbinda from Jhalda in an auto.

Mangal Mahato, the Bloc candidate for Baghmundi, conceded the turnout was low in Bagbinda but denied that the relatives of the party victims stayed away for fear of Maoists. “They (the relatives) may have gone for work to other places,” he said.

Bhuniya plea to PC

State Congress chief Manas Bhuniya today urged Union home minister P. Chidambaram to request the chief election commissioner to keep the paramilitary forces in Bengal till May 31.

“We apprehend post-poll violence after the results on May 13. This is why I have requested Chidambaramji to ensure that the paramilitary forces stay here till May 31,” Bhuniya told a news conference in Calcutta this afternoon.

He alleged that central forces had not been adequately deployed in West Midnapore’s Garbeta, where Congress candidate Hema Choubey is contesting against the CPM’s Sushanta Ghosh.

“Instead of CRPF jawans, policemen from Karnataka and Maharastra were deployed there.”