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Campaign for West Bengal rural body election ends, toll at 18
Three more people were killed in West Bengal, taking the toll from political violence during the panchayat polls campaign to 18.
Three more people were killed in West Bengal on Thursday, taking the toll from political violence during the panchayat polls campaign to 18, even as campaigning drew to a close with voting scheduled for July 8.
The elections are being contested by over 200,000 candidates for 73,887 seats, with the ruling Trinamool Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party, and an alliance of the Congress and the Left parties the principal players in the fray.
Senior police officers said that a man identified as Kamal Sheikh was killed in an explosion while he was manufacturing crude bombs in Murshidabad; Dilip Mahara, the husband of a BJP-backed independent candidate was found dead in Birbhum -- though police refused to divulge more information, locals alleged that he was strangulated; and a man named Alfazuddin Halder, seriously injured in a clash between supporters of TMC and an independent candidate at Kulpi in South 24 Paraganas on Monday, died at a Kolkata hospital on Thursday.
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In 2018, a total of 23 people died ahead of the polls. The state police have, on their part, said that three of the 18 deaths this year -- that of a TMC leader in Purulia, a BJP worker in Purulia, and BJP worker in Cooch Behar -- are not related to the polls.
At a press conference at Raj Bhavan on Thursday, governor CV Ananda Bose, who has been touring violence-hit areas over the past two weeks, lashed out at the state election commissioner. “If democracy is dead during this panchayat election, who is the killer? Will the state election commissioner please raise his hand? You should know who are the killers...,” Bose said.
The governor, who had appointed the state election commissioner Rajiva Sinha on June 7 said that he the official had “disappointed the people”.
“My constitutional appointee, you have failed in your duty in my opinion. You have failed the people,” he said. Though no officials of the state poll panel were available for comment when HT reached out, the Trinamool Congress hit back at the comments, and said that the governor was acting on the BJP’s behalf.
“What he did today, makes him an agent of the BJP. He is doing politics. He could have complained against the SEC and sent a letter to the President. But instead, he held a press conference and used his post to influence the people ahead of the polls,” Kunal Ghosh, TMC spokesperson, told the media.
BJP spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya hit back.
“TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee and her party want absolute political control. They want to win the elections without any opposition and uncontested...There is no ambience to hold free and fair polls,” he said.
Elections in Bengal have always been violent but the spate of deaths has cast a shadow on the critical rural elections that may serve as a barometer of the ruling party’s popularity. On polling day, the election authorities and the administration must take steps to ensure free-and-fair elections.
