The West Bengal Panchayat Polls are being held at 568 election booths. The re election is being held after there was violence reported in most of the election booths. The voting will be held from 7:00 A.M., to 5 P.M., today. The counting will be conducted on the 17th of May and the results announced shortly after.
Four people were killed in clashes during the West Bengal Panchayat Polls. A Trinamool Congress (TMC) worker was beaten to death at Shantipur in Nadia District. Another TMC worker was killed in South 24 Parganas by an angry mob.
The violence against the TMC workers began after multiple reports of the party workers threatening voters. A number of reports showed TMC workers sparking violence outside polling stations.
These Panchayat elections were held after weeks of suspense over the dates and prolonged court cases. The BJP has put out a huge effort to defeat the Trinamool Congress party.
The last time there was a change of power in West Bengal, it began with the Panchayat Elections. The Left ruled West Bengal but then in the 2008 rural elections, the party lost its stronghold. Three years later Mamata Banerjee became Chief Minister of the State.
The filing of nomination papers for these elections began on the 2nd of April. Many members from the CPM, the BJP and the Congress claimed TMC workers were terrorizing the opposition members. The ruling party denied obstructing the opposition members from filling their nominations.
A total of 38,000 seats are vacant out of the 58,000 seats. The Trinamool Congress won 34% of the seats unopposed. However, the Supreme Court was concerned about the massive unopposed victory and stated the notifications of the results.
More than 20 people were injured when a low intensity bomb was set off at the Suktabari polling station. The TMC (All Trinamool Congress) party candidate was injured in the blast. The State Election Commission received multiple complaints of violence from Cooch Behar, Burdwan in North 24 Parganas and multiple South 24 Parganas districts.
A mob drew a line before the polling station at North Bengal’s Alipurduar threatening voters not to cross. A few voters were injured in Dinhata after two groups started a fight outside the polling station.
