West Bengal Panchayat Elections: TMC, BJP, Congress trade allegations after opposition leaders come under attack from filing nominations

Kolkata: Several incidents of clashes were reported from different parts of West Bengal on Monday as unidentified miscreants allegedly attacked opposition candidates while they were going to file nomination papers for the panchayat polls, a senior official said. .

Clashes were reported from Daspur (West Medinipur), Kakdwip (South 24 Parganas), Raninagar (Murshidabad), Shaktinagar and Barshul (both in Purba Bardhaman) and Minakhan (North 24 Parganas), he said.

The ruling Trinamool Congress accused the opposition parties of entering into an “unholy alliance” to delay the elections and tarnish the image of the state out of fear of defeat.

On the other hand, the opposition BJP, Congress and CPI(M) alleged that their candidates were prevented from submitting nomination papers by TMC workers in various districts and argued that without the deployment of central forces, it is impossible to be peaceful and peaceful. fair elections in the state

The CPI(M)’s party office at Minakhan in Basirhat sub-division was “vandalized” and miscreants “attacked” the candidates when they were on their way to file their nominations, the official said.

In another incident, BJP MLA Dibakar Gharami was allegedly attacked by unidentified persons at Sonamukhi in Bankura district when he was on his way to the nomination centre.

“Several such incidents of clashes have come to the fore and we have sought details in this regard from the DM and SP,” a senior State Election Commission (SEC) official told PTI.

The development comes on a day the SEC directed all district magistrates and superintendents of police to enforce prohibitory orders under section 144 of CrPC within one kilometer radius of all enrollment centres.

The orders issued on Sunday will be effective till Thursday. Panchayat elections are to be held on July 8. The SEC official said that more than 10,000 nomination papers have been filed so far.

Meanwhile, the SEC told the Calcutta High Court on Monday that it may extend the last date for filing nominations for the panchayat polls by a day to June 16.

After hearing petitions by opposition leaders to extend the date for filing nominations and deployment of central forces for the elections to be held on July 8, the court had on June 9 said that the time given for filing papers was prima facie insufficient .

TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said, “The fact is that the opposition—BJP, CPI(M) and Congress—were trying to delay the panchayat polls because of fear of defeat and inability to field candidates on all seats. We challenge them to publish their list of candidates for all the seats.”

Mocking the opposition for complaining of lack of time to file nominations, Ghosh said, “If they do not get a candidate, we will provide them one. The unholy alliance of the BJP, Congress and CPI(M) is trying to be defamed.” Used to be.” State by disturbing the peaceful law and order situation in the State.”

“SEC is acting like a frontal organization of TMC. With the deployment of central forces, free and fair elections are not possible in West Bengal. TMC wants to turn this panchayat election into a farce like 2018,” BJP State spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said.

In the 2018 rural elections, the TMC won 90 per cent of the state’s panchayat seats and all 22 district councils. However, these elections were marred by widespread violence and malpractices, with the opposition alleging that they were prevented from filing nominations for several seats.

State Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhary said the people of West Bengal can cast their vote only when central forces are deployed. “The TMC just wants to loot the people’s mandate, and the SEC and the state police are just acting as its frontal organisations,” he said.

In 2013, panchayat elections were held with central forces manning every polling station in the state. Despite his deployment, the TMC, which was then in power for two years, won over 85 per cent of the seats, with the opposition alleging corruption.

CPI(M) state secretary Mohd Salim said, “We strongly condemn the terror tactics adopted by TMC to derail the democratic process by inflicting violence on opposition candidates who have filed nominations for the upcoming panchayat elections.”

Elections will be held on July 8 for about 75,000 seats in the three-tier Panchayati Raj system. The nomination process that began on Friday will run until June 15, the SEC announced last week.