Elections for 73,000 seats in West Bengal’s panchayats are underway, but violence is still present and has claimed 11 lives

Approximately 5.67 crore people are eligible to vote in the panchayat elections, which started at 7 am on Saturday in rural West Bengal under heavy security, according to authorities.

Several instances of violence and arson have been recorded around the state despite increased security measures. The most recent violent outburst has resulted in the deaths of a total of 11 persons.

According to authorities speaking to PTI, the dead include five Trinamool Congress (TMC) members, one representative from each of the BJP, CPI(M), and Congress, as well as a supporter of an independent candidate.

Suvendu Adhikari, a leader of the West Bengal LoP and the BJP, protested the widespread violence by stating, “This is not an election, this is death. Statewide, there is a fire of violence. No central troops have been sent out. CCTVs are not in use. This is looting rather than voting.The police and TMC thugs are working together to commit killings, which is why there are so many of them.

According to authorities, there are a total of 2.06 lakh candidates running for 73,887 seats in the state’s three-tiered panchayat system.

According to media sources, around 5.67 crore people are expected to exercise their right to vote to choose representatives for close to 928 seats across 22 zilla parishads, 9,730 panchayat samity seats, and 63,229 gram panchayats.

The panchayat election, which involves over 65% of the state’s population and takes place before the 2024 parliamentary elections, is acting as a litmus test for the state’s political parties and has the potential to completely alter the political landscape of the state.

Given that the majority of the 42 parliamentary seats are located in rural regions of the state, this election is also a chance for the parties to assess their booth-level organization in preparation for the Lok Sabha elections in 2024.

There are 63,229 gram panchayat seats, 9,730 panchayat samiti seats, and 928 zilla parishad seats spread over 22 districts, with the highest two levels of government in Darjeeling and Kalimpong being the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) and the Siliguri Sub-divisional Council.

People started showing up early in spite of the sporadic rains, and long lines were seen outside voting places as early as 6 am.

Conflict in Bengal
Since the elections were declared on June 8 and more than a dozen people, including a youngster, were killed, widespread violence in different sections of Bengal has been making headlines.

With Governor C V Ananda Bose creating a “Peace Home” at the governor’s residence to address concerns from the populace, Raj Bhavan took an active part for the first time in tackling the problem of election violence.

This time, the governor was spotted hurrying to places affected by violence to comfort the victims and their relatives.

Along with the nine fatalities already mentioned, the most recent incident of violence also resulted in a number of injuries, according to PTI.

At least two voting places had vote boxes smashed, officials reported to the bureau.

“vote boxes were damaged and vote papers were set on fire at a booth at Baravita Govt Primary School in Dinhata, Cooch Behar district. Locals set a vote box and ballot papers on fire at another polling place in the Barnachina neighborhood, claiming that there had been fraudulent voting, according to PTI.

TMC, BJP, and CPI(M): Where each party stands
All 928 seats in zilla parishads, 9,419 seats in panchayat samitis, and 61,591 seats in gram panchayats are up for election, according to the governing TMC. The BJP has candidates running for 38,475 gram panchayat seats, 7,032 panchayat samiti seats, and 897 zilla parishad seats.

The CPI(M) is running candidates for 35,411 gram panchayat seats, 6,752 panchayat samiti seats, and 747 zilla parishad seats. 11,774 gram panchayat seats, 2,197 panchayat samiti seats, and 644 zilla parishad seats are all up for election to the Congress.

For the elections, at least 600 companies of central troops and some 70,000 state police have been sent out.

Governor CV Ananda Bose urged the populace to cast their ballots without fail and announced on Friday that he and his staff will be out on the streets during voting. He has appointments at Barrackpore, Basirhat, and some of Nadia district in the North 24 Parganas area.

TMC-BJP fight still going on: Who said what?
Abhishek Banerjee, national general secretary of the TMC, and chief minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee oversaw the party’s election campaign.

In order to prevent a repeat of the 2018 rural elections, when it had won around 34% of the seats without a challenge, they largely emphasized on the need to avoid using strong-arm tactics by their cadres and provide their political opponents more democratic room during campaigns.

“BJP seems to forget that voters, not centralized forces, cast ballots. No matter how many central forces you seek, the mandate won’t alter if the BJP doesn’t have popular support, according to Abhishek Banerjee.

Sukanta Majumdar, state president of the BJP, Dilip Ghosh, and Suvendu Adhikari, the head of the opposition, oversaw the campaign for the saffron party, while Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, state president of the Congress, and Mohammed Salim, state secretary of the CPI(M), oversaw the campaigns for their respective political organizations.

“The TMC wants to recreate the 2018 rural elections, but we won’t let it happen this time. BJP will beat the TMC, according to Majumdar.

Chowdhury said that the “grab-all mindset” of the TMC, which leaves no room for any sort of dissent, is what has caused the current state of anarchy.

Sujan Chakraborty, leader of the CPI(M), echoed him when he declared that voters would reject both the TMC and the BJP.

Its leader and lone MLA Nawsad Siddique oversaw the party’s campaign, which often ended in fights with the incumbent TMC in Bhangor in South 24 Parganas despite the Indian Secular Front’s (ISF) minimal presence in areas of North and South 24 Parganas.