Numerous Deaths Occur as West Bengal’s Rural Areas Cast Their Ballots in Panchayat Elections

Election-related violence claimed the lives of many people in West Bengal on Saturday while voting for the three-tier panchayat elections in the state was taking place, according to authorities. According to them, voting began at 7 am in 73,887 seats in the state’s rural districts, with 5.67 crore people casting ballots to decide the destiny of almost 2.06 lakh candidates.

They said that BJP election worker Madhab Biswas was reportedly slain in Coochbehar district’s Falimari gram panchayat. The TMC’s supporters allegedly blocked Biswas from entering the voting place, and when things got out of hand, they murdered him, according to the BJP. The TMC refuted the claims.

Following an overnight beating, a supporter of an Independent candidate passed away in Kadambagachi, North 24 Paraganas district, according to police. Abdullah, age 41, was identified as the dead. He passed away early in the morning while receiving treatment at a nearby hospital, according to Superintendent of Police Bhaskar Mukherjee.

Locals barricaded the Taki Road in the early hours in protest at the murder, but police quickly cleared them away. In connection with election-related violence, a TMC employee was slain overnight in Kapasdanga, Murshidabad district. According to authorities, the deceased was named as Babar Ali.

Two of its employees were reportedly slain in Rejinagar and Khargram in the Murshidabad district, while a third was reportedly killed in Tufanganj in the Coochbehar district. “The voting began without incident, but since yesterday night, the Congress, BJP, and CPI(M) have been assaulting TMC workers. Three of our employees have passed away in Khargram, Tufanganj, and Rejinagar. Additionally, two of our employees were hurt in Domkal. Where are the main players? Kunal Ghosh, a TMC spokesman, enquired.

In an altercation with Congress supporters in the Malda area, a TMC leader’s brother was slain, according to the police. The incident had place near the Manikchak police station in Jisharattola. They said that Malek Sheikh was the name of the dead.

The CPI(M) has refuted the TMC’s claim that CPI(M) supporters in the Narayanpur neighborhood of Nadia district fired at the spouse of one of its candidates. All of the parties raised accusations of efforts to steal ballot boxes and attacks on voters. Other regions of the state also reported clashes.

Voting is complete, tweeted CPI(M) state secretary Md Salim, who posted a video of open vote boxes laying in a field. ballot boxes in one of the booths and their state. By the way, Diamond Harbour is in this photo. For the elections, at least 600 companies of central troops and some 70,000 state police have been sent out. Sukanta Majumdar, the state president of the BJP, shared a video on Twitter in which she claimed that poll workers left the scene after vote boxes were set on fire at a booth in the Coochbehar district.

Governor CV Ananda Bose visited and spoke with locals in the North 24 Parganas area. 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. 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.