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Hundreds arrested after post-poll violence kills at least three in Indian state

By Reuters Reuters
Members of security forces stop vehicles as they stand guard along a road leading to the site where an aide of Suvendu Adhikari, a leader of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in West Bengal state, was shot dead days after the BJP secured a majority in the state assembly elections, in North 24 Parganas, on the outskirts of Kolkata, India, May 7, 2026. REUTERS/Sahiba Chawdhary
Members of security forces stop vehicles as they stand guard along a road leading to the site where an aide of Suvendu Adhikari, a leader of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in West Bengal state, was shot dead days after the BJP secured a majority in the state assembly elections, in North 24 Parganas, on the outskirts of Kolkata, India, May 7, 2026. REUTERS/Sahiba Chawdhary Sahiba Chawdhary Reuters
Members of security forces stop a delivery personnel as they stand guard along a road leading to the site where an aide of Suvendu Adhikari, a leader of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in West Bengal state, was shot dead days after the BJP secured a majority in the state assembly elections, in North 24 Parganas, on the outskirts of Kolkata, India, May 7, 2026. REUTERS/Sahiba Chawdhary
Members of security forces stop a delivery personnel as they stand guard along a road leading to the site where an aide of Suvendu Adhikari, a leader of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in West Bengal state, was shot dead days after the BJP secured a majority in the state assembly elections, in North 24 Parganas, on the outskirts of Kolkata, India, May 7, 2026. REUTERS/Sahiba Chawdhary Sahiba Chawdhary Reuters




Members of security forces stop vehicles as they stand guard along a road leading to the site where an aide of Suvendu Adhikari, a leader of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in West Bengal state, was shot dead days after the BJP secured a majority in the state assembly elections, in North 24 Parganas, on the outskirts of Kolkata, India, May 7, 2026. REUTERS/Sahiba Chawdhary
Members of security forces stop vehicles as they stand guard along a road leading to the site where an aide of Suvendu Adhikari, a leader of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in West Bengal state, was shot dead days after the BJP secured a majority in the state assembly elections, in North 24 Parganas, on the outskirts of Kolkata, India, May 7, 2026. REUTERS/Sahiba Chawdhary Sahiba Chawdhary Reuters




Members of security forces stand guard along a road leading to the site where an aide of Suvendu Adhikari, a leader of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in West Bengal state, was shot dead days after the BJP secured a majority in the state assembly elections, in North 24 Parganas, on the outskirts of Kolkata, India, May 7, 2026. REUTERS/Sahiba Chawdhary
Members of security forces stand guard along a road leading to the site where an aide of Suvendu Adhikari, a leader of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in West Bengal state, was shot dead days after the BJP secured a majority in the state assembly elections, in North 24 Parganas, on the outskirts of Kolkata, India, May 7, 2026. REUTERS/Sahiba Chawdhary Sahiba Chawdhary Reuters




Members of security forces stop vehicles as they stand guard along a road leading to the site where an aide of Suvendu Adhikari, a leader of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in West Bengal state, was shot dead days after the BJP secured a majority in the state assembly elections, in North 24 Parganas, on the outskirts of Kolkata, India, May 7, 2026. REUTERS/Sahiba Chawdhary
Members of security forces stop vehicles as they stand guard along a road leading to the site where an aide of Suvendu Adhikari, a leader of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in West Bengal state, was shot dead days after the BJP secured a majority in the state assembly elections, in North 24 Parganas, on the outskirts of Kolkata, India, May 7, 2026. REUTERS/Sahiba Chawdhary Sahiba Chawdhary Reuters




NEW DELHI - Hundreds of people were arrested after post-election violence erupted this week in an eastern Indian state, killing at least three people, including the aide to a senior leader of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party.

Here are some details.

• Modi's BJP defeated incumbent Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress (TMC) in the election in West Bengal state, where she has held power since 2011.

• Banerjee has refused to resign, saying she has "not been defeated" and accusing the Election Commission of colluding with the BJP to win the election.

• More than 200 criminal cases have been registered across the state for the violence and 433 people have been arrested, police chief Siddh Nath Gupta told reporters on Wednesday.

• BJP has accused the TMC of carrying out "targeted assassinations".

• TMC has condemned the violence that it says is being carried out by "BJP-backed miscreants".

• West Bengal has a history of post-election violence, and about a dozen people were killed during similar clashes between political parties after results were declared during the previous polls in 2021.

(Reporting by Sakshi Dayal and Raju Gopalakrishnan)

Copyright Reuters or USA Today Network via Reuters Connect.

This story was originally published May 7, 2026 at 12:23 AM.

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