The Trinamool Congress (TMC) swept the West Bengal panchayat elections, winning a majority in all three tiers of the rural local government. The TMC won 2,552 out of 3,317 gram panchayats, 232 panchayat samitis, and 12 out of 20 zilla parishads. The BJP was a distant second, winning only 212 gram panchayats, 7 panchayat samitis, and no zilla parishads.
Some results are still awaited.
"It's TMC all the way in rural Bengal. I want to thank the people for their love, affection and support towards the TMC. This election has proved that only TMC resides in the heart of the people of the state," Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said in a Facebook post.
The counting of votes for the panchayat elections began yesterday morning. Over 74,000 seats are up for grabs, including 63,229 gram panchayat seats, 9,730 panchayat samiti seats, and 928 zilla parishad seats.
The polls, billed as a test of popularity for Trinamool supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, saw rampant violence on Saturday.
The repolling on Monday was again marred by violence in several booths, resulting in the deaths of 15 people. Repolling was held in 696 booths amid allegations of electoral fraud, booth capturing, and multiple reports of electoral irregularities and voter suppression during the polling.
Explosives were detonated near a counting center in Murshidabad yesterday morning while the police had to use batons to disperse a crowd in Howrah.
Opposition BJP has accused the Trinamool of making "desperate attempts to loot votes" by preventing opposition observers from entering counting centers.
"TMC goons are making desperate attempt to steal the elections by obstructing the counting agents and candidates of the BJP and other opposition political parties from entering counting centres. They are being restricted from going towards the venue, and bombs are being hurled to intimidate counting agents," leader of the Opposition, Suvendu Adhikari, said, as quoted by news agency PTI.
The Trinamool has claimed that 60 per cent of the people killed in poll violence were either their workers or supporters.
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"Even a malicious campaign with baseless propaganda to malign the AITC State Govt in WB couldn't sway the voters!" said Trinamool leader Abhishek Banerjee in response to the allegations of poll manipulation.
"Grateful to the people for converting Opposition's 'No Vote To Mamata' campaign to 'Now Vote For Mamata'," he added.
The rampant violence and allegations of ballot box tampering prompted West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose to submit a report to Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Mr Bose also warned of stern action against those involved in the violence.
Source: NDTV
BDST: 0931 HRS, JULY 12, 2023
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