Editor's Pick: Raising the stakes in Bengal

(The Editor's Pick is a new newsletter from The Hindu that provides a snapshot of the most important stories from today's edition of our newspaper, along with a note from our top editors on why we chose to give prominence to these stories.)

The blame game in West Bengal over the violence in the last phase of voting that left 5 dead is continuing with Prime Minister Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at the forefront. Mr. Shah on Sunday accused Ms. Banerjee of inciting people to target central security personnel. In an incident in Cooch Behar, a mob allegedly attacked CRPF personnel, who fired back killing four people. Ms. Bannerjee has accused Mr. Shah and the central forces as being responsible for the violence and has alleged that central forces are helping the BJP on the ground.

Even though both BJP and TMC have been running barbed campaigns from the start, the first few phases of the eight-phase poll had been incident-free. However, with the Cooch Behar shootings, the allegations of both campaigns have become more polarising. While the BJP has said that Ms. Banerjee is instigating the Muslim community, the CM has said that the killings were a genocide perpetrated by Mr. Shah.

The incident has also put the spotlight on Election Commission of India's handling of the West Bengal polls. The ECI has already been criticised for spreading the polls over eight phases, which may help the challenger BJP to run focused campaigns. The Hindu's editorial today raises concerns about how the standard practice of shuffling local officials may have deviated this time from the stated aim of keeping elections fair. The editorial also points out that the ECI has reportedly been diligent in calling out communal comments by the TMC campaign, while BJP campaigners have had a free run.

The incident at Sitalkuchi in Cooch Behar has now raised the stakes as the election moves from the rural areas where BJP has a foothold, to the urban areas such as Kolkata where TMC dominates. This is what makes the story important.

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