Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, July 11: In the violence-marred bitterly fought three-tier panchayat elections in West Bengal, the ruling Trinamool Congress seemed to be sweeping the polls having established mammoth lead over its nearest rival, the BJP.
Though the end of the counting, which began on Tuesday for the polling held on Saturday, is a long way off, celebrations have started at the Trinamool offices across the state after the party looked to heading for landslide victory having established lead in every district, except Darjeeling and Kalimpong.
The BJP, which is now established as the main Opposition party in the state, was at the second position, with the Left-Congress alliance behind it at third. Initially, there was expectation that the Congress and CPI(M) alliance would do well in Murshidabad and Malda districts, especially given the Congress win from Sagardighi Assembly seat in Murshidabad in a bypoll in January this year. However, in initial trends, the TMC was ahead of the Opposition in both districts.
The Indian Secular Front (ISF), which is emerging as a force in Muslim pockets in Bengal, performed well in its stronghold of Bhangar. The ISF’s alliance with the CPI(M) and an anti-land acquisition committee was giving a neck-and-neck fight to the TMC in some blocks of Bhangar, which saw some of the worst violence in the polls.
Counting of votes started on Tuesday morning for the 74,000 seats in the three-tier panchayat polls. Besides the 63,229 gram panchayat seats, it also includes 9,730 panchayat samiti seats and 928 zilla parishad seats.
Data from the state Election Commission shows the TMC was leading in 23,198 of the gram panchayat seats, the BJP ahead in 5,756 seats, the CPI(M) leading in 2,048 seats and the Congress in 1,439 seats. Other parties which included the newly formed ISF were leading in 1,721 seats while independents which included Trinamool rebels won 718 seats and led in 216 seats.
In terms of control of panchayats, the TMC was headed to win 2,138 of the total 3,317, the BJP 122, the Congress 26 and the Left Front 15. Other parties, including Independents, were leading in 103 gram panchayats across the state.
In panchayat samitis, the TMC had won 112 of 9,740 seats by 6 pm, and was leading in 59. The BJP was leading in 9 panchayat samitis while the Left Front was leading in 2. In zilla parishad seats too, the TMC was ahead, winning 18 of the total 928 by 6 pm. Results for the rest of the seats were yet to arrive.
In the panchayat elections held in the hill districts of Darjeeling and Kalimpong, falling under the Gorkha Territorial Administration (GTA), Anit Thapa’s Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BGPM), an ally of the TMC, took the initial lead.
The election was held on July 8 in over 61,000 booths, with a voter turnout of 80.71 per cent. In the violence during polling, at least 21 people were killed, while there were reports of booth capturing, ballot box looting and destruction of ballot papers. West Bengal has 3,317 gram panchayats with 63,229 seats, 341 panchayat samitis with 9,730 seats, and 20 zilla parishads with 928 seats.
The BJP has alleged that the Trinamool was making “desperate attempts to loot votes” by barring opposition agents from counting centres. “TMC goons are making desperate attempt to steal the elections by obstructing the counting agents and candidates of the BJP and other opposition political parties from entering counting centres. They are being restricted from going towards the venue, and bombs are being hurled to intimidate counting agents,” leader of the Opposition, Suvendu Adhikari, said.
Trinamool spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said, “Sensing defeat, they are making baseless allegations.” “Rejected by people and sensing humiliating defeat, this is BJP’s last attempt to come up with lame excuses to make up for its own organisational failures,” he said. The Trinamool has claimed that 60 per cent of the people killed in the violence were their supporters.
The violence had started since the Panchayat polls were announced. Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose has submitted a report on the violence to Union Home Minister Amit Shah. In a first, the Raj Bhavan also attempted to address the issue of poll violence this time, with the Governor opening a “Peace Home” at his official residence to address people’s complaints.
