In the bruised and battered offices of the Opposition political parties in West Bengal, the mood is finally upbeat. Taking note of the enormous numbers of seats that were won uncontested by the ruling Trinamool Congress in the Panchayat polls held in May, the Supreme Court in a July 3 order has asked the State Election Commission (SEC) to furnish detailed information about the same. The rural polls were concluded amidst reports of unprecedented rigging and violence allegedly committed by TMC goons, with Opposition candidates declaring that they were prevented from contesting due to large-scale intimidation and bloody mayhem. The apex court has asked the SEC to explain why, of the 48,650 gram panchayat seats, 16,000 went uncontested. In fact, out of a total of 58,692 (including 825 zilla parishad and 9,217 panchayat samiti seats), 20,159 seats went to the ruling party by default. The situation was especially dire in Birbhum, Bankura, Murshidabad and Poorva Bardhaman districts.
바카라The SC order has restored our faith in our democratic institutions,바카라 BJP바카라s Chandra Kumar Bose told Outlook. 바카라We were shocked by the brazenness with which attacks on the Opposition was taking place right under the nose of the SEC.... It began at the nomination stage, continued throughout, even extending to the day of counting.바카라
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The Opposition바카라s allegations were corroborated by dozens of news channel videos바카라of candidates being dragged out of the chambers of block development officers, the venue for submitting nomination documents, and subjected to brutal physical assault. Goons, their faces covered with handkerchiefs, rampaged through the country roads, brandishing weapons. Bombs바카라the terror weapon of choice for parties in Bengal바카라were used widely. Polling day was as violence prone, and on the day of counting news cameras captured images of thugs entering counting centres, snatching ballot papers and stamping them randomly. Ballot boxes were stolen, thrown into ponds, or set afire. In all, poll-related violence claimed 30 lives. As much as 34 per cent of the seats went uncontested.
바카라I decided not to contest a panchayat samiti seat because the night before I was to file my nomination, some people visited our house at night, called out my husband and told him, 바카라for the sake of your wife바카라s honour, make sure she doesn바카라t go anywhere near the BDO office tomorrow바카라,바카라 said a 31-old woman in South 24 Paraganas district. 바카라It was not worth it.바카라
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But Trinamool has readily stonewalled such allegations. 바카라They are not fielding candidates as they don바카라t have that many people, not because we are threatening them,바카라 a Trinamool local leader from Jhargram told Outlook.
The view from the other side resembles scorched earth. 바카라Our candidates were beaten up and the SEC, in charge of the 바카라free and fairness바카라 of the polls, was looking the other way. This is because the organisation has become a puppet in the hands of the state government, doing their bidding,바카라 says Congress leader Om Prakash Mishra. CPI(M) MP Mohammed Selim tells Outlook, 바카라During Left rule, the SEC worked independently. To reduce the poll panel to a puppet in the hands of the state government and the ruling party is unprecedented.바카라
Psephologist and political scientist Biswanath Chakraborty says, 바카라Bengal elections have never been free from violence perhaps because it has been an integral part of Bengal바카라s political history. From the Partition riots to radical ideologies like Naxalism which originated here, certain types of violence, such as armed struggles, have been a part of life. Therefore, political parties do not always distance themselves from violence, as though it was for a 바카라just cause바카라. That this is not acceptable in a democracy is something that has not been emphasised whether during Congress rule, when Emergency was declared, or the three-and-a-half decades of Left rule. However, the just-concluded rural polls have surpassed any previous record of violence and is an indication that polls are being controlled by hooligans.바카라
If faith in the democratic process was throughly shaken, the recent Supreme Court order has restored it.
By Dola Mitra in Calcutta
