Bengal panchayat polls counting today, Oppn apprehends violence
Opposition parties in West Bengal apprehend violence across the state during counting of votes for the panchayat elections on Thursday.
According to the parties, at least 20 people died on the day of polling on Monday.
“We have expressed our apprehension to the poll panel that there are chances the Trinamool Congress will try to take control of those counting centres where they could not capture booths on the polling day. Therefore, we have asked our workers to be on alert. We are preparing to resist any kind of attack,” BJP state president Dilip Ghosh said.
“I believe goons will be let loose to take control of the counting centres on Thursday,” said Congress Bengal unit president and Lok Sabha MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury.
Meanwhile, violence and tension gripped some areas during repoll on Wednesday despite heavy police arrangement.
On Tuesday evening, the state election commission ordered repoll in 572 booths of the state.
BJP alleged that their polling agents could not enter a single booth where re-election was held.
“We have witnessed electoral violence in Bengal, but the degree and extent have multiplied manifold.
KOLKATA:
I am in politics for more than four decades. I can tell you with authority that such a situation has never befallen the state,” said Bengal Congress president Adhir Chowdhury, who is a Lok Sabha MP from Berhampore since 1999.
Meanwhile, polling officers staged a protest in Raigunj after the body of one of their colleagues was found near railway tracks about 20 km away from the polling station. The deceased, Rajkumar Roy, a teacher of Rahatpur High Madrasa, who was on duty, went missing from the polling station at Raigunj in North DInajpur district. “He went missing on the polling day. The discovery of his body angered his fellow polling officers at Raiganj. When the local sub-divisional officer (SDO), TN Sherpa, reached the spot on Wednesday, the officers staged a protest,” said Bijoy Shankar Sinha, general secretary of West Bengal State Coordination Committee, a Left- affiliated association of the state government employees.
Some of the agitators demanded that central forces be deployed on the counting day to ensure their safety.
A local polling officer from Raigunj, who did not wish to be named, said. “We are sticking to our demand of not joining our duty on Thursday unless central forces are deployed,” he said.
Police or administrative officers, however, made no comment on Roy’s death till afternoon.
“It is surprising that the government was not bothered. The anger is natural,” said BJP state president.
CPI(M) politburo member and party MP from Raigunj, Md Salim alleged that Roy’s murder was cold- blooded conspiracy.
“He was abducted, then taken to the railway tracks and hacked, so that his death can be projected as an accident. One can imagine what kind of violence the TMC will unleash on the counting day. We will try our best to resist any kind of attack,” he said.
An official from the state secretariat, who requested anonymity, however, claimed that those who manhandled the SDO were not polling staff, but members of a CPI(M)-affiliated teachers’ association.