Opposition moves HC, Congress worker killed in Bengal ahead of panchayat polls
According to police officials, Congress worker Phoolchand Sheikh was shot dead by unidentified assailants in Murshidabad district’s Khargram.
A Congress worker was shot dead in West Bengal on Friday as political clashes broke out on the first day of submitting papers for the high-stakes panchayat elections, even as the Calcutta high court observed that the time period for filing nominations prima facie appeared to be inadequate.
Read here: Bengal rural polls: Opp parties seek more time for nominations, central forces
According to police officials, Congress worker Phoolchand Sheikh was shot dead by unidentified assailants in Murshidabad district’s Khargram.
State Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said the attack was politically motivated. “We were anticipating attacks on our people before the polls.”
State Election Commission officials said they sought a report from the police on the attack.
Trinamool Congress (TMC) Rajya Sabha member Santanu Sen maintained that the police will carry out a thorough investigation. “It needs to be ascertained whether the crime was linked to politics,” he said.
Earlier in the day, a division bench of chief justice T S Sivagnanam and justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya noted that the notification for the July 8 polls were released on Friday and the nomination process started at 11am the same day.
“Prima facie, we are of the view that the time limit fixed in the notification is inadequate. The notification has been uploaded/published today i.e. on 9th June, 2023 and filing of nominations would start from 11am today. This, in our view, would appear to be hurrying up the process which needs to be reconsidered by the state election commission,” the bench said.
“The state election commission can fix a reasonable time for the prospective candidates to file their nominations because it is insisted that nominations have to be filed in physical form,” it added.
The bench made the observations while hearing separate petitions filed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and leader of opposition in the state assembly Suvendu Adhikari and Congress Lok Sabha floor leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, seeking extension of dates and deployment of central forces to forestall violence during the poll process.
Read here: Bengal panchayat polls to be held in single phase on July 8: State election body
The Congress’s move to approach the high court may further strain its equations with the ruling TMC and cast a shadow on efforts to forge larger Opposition unity ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The pleas showed, once again, why contradictions in political dynamics at the state and national levels were hurting opposition unity plans.
On Thursday, SEC Rajiva Sinha announced that panchayat elections will be held in a single phase on July 8 and nominations for the elections will begin immediately. He added that the results will likely be announced on July 11.
Sinha is the state’s former chief secretary whose appointment as SEC was cleared by governor C V Ananda Bose on Wednesday. Sinha retired from the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) in 2020.
During the HC hearing, lawyers for both the BJP and Congress said that there were effectively just 24 hours for candidates to file nominations for 58,513 gram panchayats, 9,730 panchayat samitis and 20 zilla parishads, given that there was one holiday.
On the prayer for deployment of central forces, the court said it is for the SEC to decide on whether it “would augur well to seek for deployment of central forces so that the state police force can work along with the central forces so as to preserve and maintain law and order situation”.
The last panchayat polls in 2018 witnessed large-scale violence and around 20 murders with opposition parties alleging that their candidates were not allowed to file nominations and intimidated. The TMC bagged around 90% seats, of which 34% were uncontested.
On Friday, clashes broke out in Murshidabad, Cooch Behar, Bankura, North Dinajpur and South 24 Parganas districts. In Murshidabad’s Raninagar-1 community block area, violence erupted after TMC workers allegedly prevented CPI(M) cadres from collecting their nomination papers. Police said they resorted to baton charge to disperse the clashing groups.
Read here: ED summons TMC's Abhishek Banerjee in recruitment case on June 13
“Our workers were attacked (by TMC workers) in South 24 Parganas as well,” CPI(M) state committee member Samik Lahiri said.
Dismissing the allegations, TMC state vice-president Jay Prakash Majumdar said: “SEC is conducting the polls. All political parties have to cooperate. TMC is determined to ensure that the polls are peaceful and fair.”