Violence rocks Bengal's panchayat polls, 12 dead, allegations of strong arm tactics

Kolkata, July 8

Violence rocked Bengal’s rural polls as voting ended on Saturday leaving 12 people dead, ballot boxes vandalised and bombs thrown at rivals in a number of villages.

Saturday’s events were in keeping with the state’s history of violent elections including the 2003 panchayat polls which gained notoriety for its death toll of 76 during the course of the election process, with more than 40 killed on the day of the elections.

With 30 dead since polls were announced earlier last month, this year’s bloodied election also closely followed the 2018 panchayat poll violence pattern a similar number of people were left dead.

Twelve people, including eight from the ruling TMC and one worker each of the BJP, CPI(M) and Congress died since midnight in the crucial three-tier panchayat polls, officials said.

The election which is being seen by analysts as a semi-final for the 2024 parliamentary elections, also witnessed scenes of ballot boxes being stolen and burnt and of public anger being vented against political workers.

The polling began at 7 am in 73,887 seats in the rural areas of the state with 5.67 crore people deciding the fate of around 2.06 lakh candidates. Till 5 pm, 66.28 per cent voter turnout was recorded, officials said.

State Election Commissioner (SEC) Rajiva Sinha on Saturday promised to look into complaints of vote tampering and to take a decision on possible re-polling after receiving reports from observers and returning officers.

Sinha said the most number of complaints on incidents of violence during the day’s polling came from four districts, and they would all be taken into account while reviewing the poll process.

The SEC, who had to face a lot of flak from various political parties, said that a decision on re-polling would be taken on Sunday when observers and returning officers would scrutinise and review the polling process.

“I have been getting information (of violence and clashes) since last night. Calls were directly made to me as well as to the Control room phone numbers on these incidents.

“The maximum number of such incidents on Saturday were reported from three to four districts like North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas and Murshidabad district,” Sinha told PTI.

The SEC, however, placed the figure of those dead due to election-related violence at 3 since Saturday morning. 

Among flashpoints identified by the political parties were Murshidabad, Nadia and Cooch Behar districts besides pockets in South 24 Parganas such as Bhangar and in Purba Medinipur’s Nandigram.

Even after the voting officially ended in the evening, there were reports of stray violence from Murshidabad with vehicles being burnt by supporters of various parties.

All parties in West Bengal levelled allegations against each other for the violence that claimed the lives of 12 people, even as the BJP called for President’s Rule to be imposed in the state.

The right-wing party, which blamed the State Election Commission for poll-related deaths, shot off a letter to Union Home Minister Amit Shah demanding his “intervention” in restoring democracy in the state alleging democracy has been “murdered in the state by the ruling party as the security forces played the role of an audience”.

The ruling Trinamool Congress, which lost eight of its supporters to poll violence, however, accused the opposition of orchestrating violence and criticised the central forces for their failure to protect voters.

TMC’s senior minister Sashi Panja said, “Shocking incidents are being reported since last night. BJP, CPI(M) and Congress have colluded.” She also raised questions on the role of the central forces.

The Border Security Force, however, dismissed the allegations as baseless.

Leader of the opposition in the state assembly, Suvendu Adhikari of the BJP, demanded that President’s Rule be imposed in the state and threatened to lead a march to Kalighat where chief minister Mamata Banerjee lives against the violence in the panchayat polls.

“A free and fair election under the state administration is a mirage. It is only possible only if elections are held under President’s Rule or Article 355,” he said.

In a statement, TMC however claimed that if the party was behind the violence, “why would our own workers be targeted and killed? “.

West Bengal Pradesh Congress president Adhir Chowdhury in a left handed compliment, “congratulated” Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee for winning the just-concluded violent rural polls.

“Congrats Didi, you have won the panchayat elections,” he said. “’Aapni jite gechen’ (you have won),” he said, adding sarcastically that Banerjee’s injured leg will be fine on the counting day on July 11 and she will come out of her home and thank people for making her victorious in the polls.

The CPI(M) accused the State Election Commission of enacting a farce in the name of holding panchayat elections and blamed the ruling party for the poll-related deaths.

Governor CV Ananda Bose visited different areas in North 24 Parganas district, and met people injured in the violence.

“People requested me to stop my motorcade on the way. There were a lot of tales to tell, they told me about murders, goons not allowing them to go to polling booths …

“These are stray cases but even one incident of bloodshed should cause concern to all of us,” he told reporters.

Among those killed was BJP’s polling agent Madhab Biswas who was allegedly killed by ruling party workers in Falimari gram panchayat in Cooch Behar district, officials said.

The TMC on the other hand also alleged that its booth committee member in Tufanganj 2 panchayat samiti in Cooch Behar, Ganesh Sarkar, was killed in an attack by the BJP.

Uttar Dinajpur’s Goalpokhar witnessed a clash between TMC and Congress workers where the husband of the TMC Panchayat head Shanshah was killed, officials said.

A TMC worker identified as Babar Ali was also killed in Murshidabad district’s Kapasdanga area in overnight violence.

Another TMC worker was killed in the district’s Khargram area. He was identified as Sabiruddin Sk.

Malek Sheikh, brother of a TMC leader was also killed in a clash with Congress supporters in Malda district’s Jisharattola, police said.

The TMC also alleged that one of its workers was killed in Nadia’s Chapra.

An ISF worker 48-year-old Saidul Seikh was killed in a clash with TMC in the district’s Haringhata area, according to locals.

Nadia’s TMC president Debasish Ganguli however claimed that the incident happened when ISF supporters were hurling crude bombs at TMC workers. “One of the bombs slipped from their hands and exploded,” he claimed.

A 38-year-old man Anisur was killed in South 24 Parganas district’s Basanti.

A Congress worker Yasmin Sk., was allegedly killed in Murshidabad’s Rejinagar police station area in election-related violence.

CPI(M) worker Rajibul Hoque died in the morning while undergoing treatment at a hospital after injuries in a clash which occurred earlier in the week.

The TMC alleged that one of its workers Goutam Roy was killed outside a polling booth in the district’s Katawa area by CPI(M) supporters.

Police said another Trinamool Congress worker, Amjad Hossain was killed on Saturday during a clash between members of two parties at Kalyandaha under Chapra block in Nadia district of West Bengal. In the clash, which took place on Saturday afternoon, at least 11 others, mostly TMC supporters, were also injured, they said.

Incidents of destruction of ballot boxes and intimidation of voters were also reported in some areas.

In Cooch Behar district’s Dinhata, ballot boxes were vandalised and ballot papers were set on fire at a booth in Baravita Govt Primary School. At another booth in the Barnachina area, locals torched a ballot box along with ballot papers, alleging that false voting was done.

Protests were also held in various areas, demanding the deployment of central forces.

In Nandigram, female voters gheraoed a police officer with bottles of poison in their hands, demanding that central force be deployed in the area.

CPI(M) state secretary Md Salim shared a video of open ballot boxes lying in the field, tweeting, “Vote is over! Condition of the ballots, ballot boxes in one of the booths. By the way this picture is from Diamond Harbour.”  At least 600 companies of central forces have been deployed for the elections along with around 70,000 state police.

There are 63,229-gram panchayat seats and 9,730 panchayat samiti seats in 22 districts, while 928 zilla parishad seats in 20 districts as Darjeeling and Kalimpong have a two-tier system with Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) and Siliguri Sub-divisional Council at the top.

The ruling TMC contested all the 928 seats in zilla parishads, 9,419 seats in panchayat samitis and 61,591 seats in gram panchayats. The BJP fielded candidates in 897 zilla parishad seats, 7,032 panchayat samiti seats and 38,475 seats in gram panchayats.

The CPI(M) is fighting 747 zilla parishad seats, 6,752 panchayat samiti seats and 35,411 gram panchayat seats. The Congress contested 644 zilla parishad seats, 2,197 panchayat samiti seats and 11,774 gram panchayat seats.