A Congress worker was allegedly beaten to death by unidentified people in West Bengal's Murshidabad district ahead of the panchayat polls in the state, police said on Friday.

The incident took place in the Raninagar area, hours before Governor C V Ananda Bose reached the district to visit violence-hit areas there, a senior officer said.

Arabindo Mondal (45), who was a Congress member, died after he was beaten up by unidentified people, the officer said.

The house of the deceased was allegedly attacked on Thursday night, leading to a clash between two groups, he said.

"The person was declared brought dead to a hospital in Islampur. We are investigating the matter. No one has been arrested," the officer said.

Heavy police deployment was made in the area to maintain law and order, he added.

The panchayat elections in the state will be held on Saturday.

Around 5.67 crore people are eligible to exercise their franchise in the three-tier panchayat system, comprising zilla parishad, panchayat samiti and gram panchayat.

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