As of right now, 37 people have died, raising concerns about the state election commission’s involvement in guaranteeing a smooth voting process.
On Saturday, the three-tier panchayat elections in 20 districts were marred by widespread violence, ballot paper looting, and rigging, according to sources acquainted with the situation. At least 18 people died across eight districts in West Bengal. Only in Darjeeling and Kalimpong, the two hilly districts with two-tier panchayats, were the polls peaceful.
The violence on Saturday brought the death toll to 37, raising concerns about the state electoral commission’s role in failing to ensure a smooth election process.
The poll body first resisted the notion of using more security officers, and the Calcutta high court even intervened. The election watchdog should have been considerably more capable and serious about its duty in a state where violence at the booth level is strongly ingrained in the political culture.
In Bengal, 23 persons lost their lives during the most recent panchayat elections in 2018, with 12 of the deaths occurring on election day.
The results are expected to be published on July 11, but the opposition, which includes the Congress, CPI(M), and BJP, has called for a recount at numerous voting places. The Congress filed a petition with the Calcutta High Court asking for the State Election Commissioner (SEC) to be punished.
The Congress filed a petition with the Calcutta High Court to take action against Rajiva Sinha, the state election commissioner (SEC), who had previously come under fire from the court for failing to do enough to put an end to the pre-election violence that claimed 19 lives between June 8 and July 7.
“Today, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) killed democracy. Votes have been stolen everywhere. Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, the Lok Sabha representative from Berhampore, said that the TMC had already won the panchayat poll.
Two years after the TMC first took office, in 2013, a multi-phase panchayat election resulted in the deaths of 15 persons.
On Saturday, voters and opposition parties claimed that the CAPF was not stationed in crucial regions. Due to delayed trains, a Punjab Police force arrived in Kolkata after the elections were over, a state police officer stated on the condition of anonymity.
At least 11 of those who passed away on Saturday were members of the TMC, the party in power, despite the fact that officials said some of those deaths were the result of fights within the Trinamool, and there were multiple reports of skirmishes between TMC members and members of other parties. Two BJP activists and a TMC supporter perished in Cooch Behar district in north Bengal, where the BJP did well in the 2019 Lok Sabha and the 2021 assembly elections.
Videos of violent occurrences that occurred on election day were posted on social media and blamed on one another by the opposing parties.
Elections were held for 928 zilla parishad seats, 9,730 panchayat samiti seats, and 63,229 gramme panchayat seats. There were 56.7 million eligible voters. According to data given by the SEC following the withdrawal of nomination papers last month, more than 9.5% of the panchayat seats across all three levels were won without a contest, primarily by the TMC. This was a significant decline from 2018, when the ruling party garnered criticism for capturing 90% of the seats, 34% of which were uncontested.
