COVID 19: Third candidate in Bengal assembly poll dies
It is widely believed that the second COVID wave in Bengal was fanned by the free for all campaigning for the polling which is being held in a record 8 phases
Kajal Sinha, Trinamool Congress candidate from Khardaha seat in West Bengal, where assembly elections are underway, died on Sunday, taking the total number of candidates to die of the viral infection in the polls to three.
Earlier Pradip Kumar Nandi (73), the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) candidate from Jangipur seat and Congress candidate from Samserganj constituency Rezaul Haque (44) were killed by the virus.
Haque died on April 15 and Nandi passed away the next day.
Sinha (59) tested positive on April 21, the day just before polling was to be held in his constituency. He was shifted to ICU on April 22 when he was put on ventilation. He died on Sunday morning.
“Very, very sad. Shocked. Kajal Sinha, our candidate from Khardaha, succumbed to Covid. He dedicated his life to serving people & just fought a tireless campaign. He was a long-serving committed member of @AITCofficial. We will miss him. My condolences to his family & his admirers,” twitted chief minister Mamata Banerjee.
“I am really shocked to hear the news of Kajal. He was known to me for the last 28-30 years,” said Shilbhadra Dutta, Bharatiya Janata Party candidate from Khardaha.
It is widely believed that the second COVID wave in Bengal was fanned by the free for all campaigning for the polling which is being held in a record 8 phases. Senior leaders from all parties kept addressing mega rallies and roadshows involving lakhs of supporters even as doctors and experts kept cautioning the people against these mass gatherings.
In the last 24 hrs a record 14,281 new cases were added in the state. The total number of active cases in the state rose to 82,000.