10 Key Points on Bengal’s Panchayat Election Polls Today Amidst Concerns of Violence

Rural West Bengal prepares for the key three-tier panchayat elections today amid rampant violence and murders, which will be a deciding factor in the 2024 parliamentary elections and have the potential to alter the political complexion of the state.

Here is a 10-point summary of the Bengal’s Panchayat Election

1. 5.67 crore people are eligible to vote, selecting candidates for 9,730 panchayat samitis, 63,229 gramme panchayat seats, and almost 928 seats across 22 zilla parishads.
2. Numerous reports of extensive violence have come in from all around Bengal since the day the elections were declared on June 8. Twelve individuals, including a youngster, have passed away.
3. Abhishek Banerjee, national general secretary of the Trinamool Congress, and chief minister Mamata Banerjee oversaw the Trinamool campaign.
4. They had emphasised the need to avoid a repeat of the 2018 rural elections, where it had won almost 34% of the seats without any opposition, and to provide political opponents more democratic space.
5. Sukanta Majumdar, state president of the BJP, Dilip Ghosh, and Suvendu Adhikari, the head of the opposition, oversaw the party’s campaign; Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, state president of the Congress, and Mohammed Salim, state secretary of the CPI(M), oversaw that of their respective parties.
6. The Indian Secular Front (ISF), which had a small presence in areas of North and South 24 Parganas, also made news for its campaign, which frequently resulted in skirmishes with the local Trinamool government in Bhangor, South 24 Parganas.
7. In order to address complaints from the public, Governor CV Ananda Bose opened a “Peace Home” in his official residence, marking the first time the Raj Bhavan took an active part in addressing the problem of election violence.
8. For the second time since Bengal’s panchayati raj system was established in the late 1970s, elections to choose representatives for village councils will be place under the close supervision of the central authorities. Today, 65,000 central police officers and 70,000 state police officers will be stationed throughout Bengal.
9. “The BJP appears to forget that voters, not the ruling elite, cast ballots. No matter how many central forces you seek, the mandate won’t change if the BJP doesn’t have popular support, according to Abhishek Banerjee.
10. Despite the extensive use of central forces, the Trinamool won more than 85% of the seats in the 2013 panchayat elections.