Today, on July 8, the people of West Bengal are voting for the three-tier Panchayat elections in the state. As per the reports as many as 9 people have been killed so far amid voting. Those killed were all associated with different parties contesting elections in the state.
The election is crucial and will serve as a foreground to the state’s political future. It is said that the party performing well in the panchayat elections will do good in the state assembly elections as well.
As per the details available from the sources as many as nine people have been killed which includes; five members from the ruling TMC party, one each from the opposition BJP, Congress, CPI (M) and an independent candidate.
Around 5.67 crore voters are likely to exercise their franchise to choose representatives for nearly 928 seats across 22 zilla parishads, 9,730 panchayat samities, and 63,229 gram panchayats seats.
Ever since the Panchayat elections were declared in West Bengal, 17 people have been killed and hundreds injured in targeted political assassinations perpetrated by those running the state. The number of deaths would have been much higher, had it not been for the Central Forces deployed, thanks to the intervention by the Hon’ble Calcutta High Court.
Visuals coming from the ground are disturbing, a video, widely in circulation from Coochbehar where a BJP polling agent, Madhav Biswas was shot dead by unidentified miscreants in Falimari. The video of his dead body lying in the pool of blood shows the worst part of the Bengal elections.
In Murshidabad district, one of the worst affected due to violence, TMC worker Babar Ali was killed in the Kapasdanga area. He was declared brought dead when he was brought to Murshidabad Medical College and Hospital in Baharampur.
A TMC worker was killed in a crude bomb blast in Rejinagar in Murshidabad district on July 7. Another Trinamool worker was stabbed to death in Khargram in the district.
A CPI(M) worker, Rajibul Hoque from Ausgram in East Burdwan district, succumbed to his injuries in NRS Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata. He was brought to the hospital after he was injured in a clash.
Trinamool booth president Devkumar Rai from East Midnapore’s Sonachura Gram Panchayat was also attacked.
In another incident of poll violence, Communist Party of India (Marxist) activist Hafizur Rahman was injured after he was shot at. The incident took place in Okrabari village in Cooch Behar district.
The BJP leader Rahul Sinha reacted to the violence which marred the panchayat polls and said it was a “farce in the name of election”.
“When the Election Commission and government collude and take a decision that the ruling TMC loot the election, then what is happening now will happen. Central forces came here but they were not sent to booths… The TMC is attacking the BJP and other parties. It seems to be a farce in the name of the election. We can’t call this an election for the people,” Sinha said.
On the other hand, TMC from their official Twitter handle wrote, “Shocking and tragic incidents send shockwaves through the voting community. Three of our party workers have been murdered in Rejinagar, Tufanganj and Khargram and two have been left wounded from gunshots in Domkol. The @BJP4Bengal, @CPIM_WESTBENGAL and @INCWestBengal have been clamouring for the deployment of Central Forces. So, where are the Central Forces when they are needed the most? This signals a colossal failure on their part to ensure the safety and security of the people before the polls have even commenced!”
Following the repeated incidents of violence, as many as 600 companies of central forces have been deployed for the elections along with around 70,000 state police.
In the last panchayat elections in 2018, the TMC bagged around 34 per cent of the seats uncontested, and won 90 per cent of the rest, amid allegations of violence. With cases of booth capturing and burning of the ballot boxes, it looks like the ruling party is repeating history.
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