The counting of votes in the violence-hit West Bengal Panchayat elections began amid tight security on Tuesday morning across 928 seats in Zilla Parishads, 9,730 seats in Panchayat Samithis and 63,299 seats in Gram Panchayats.
In the 2018 rural body elections, the Trinamool Congress had won all 20 Zilla Parishad seats, but the BJP had managed to make inroads in some areas of Jangal Mahal and North Bengal. The opposition BJP has alleged a repeat of the violence that unfolded in 2018 with Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari demanding a CBI probe. The BJP has also formed a fact-finding team which will begin work after the Panchayat elections results.
Tuesday’s results are the only semi-final the state will witness before the big Lok Sabha battle of 2024. The BJP’s performance will be watched in areas like Jangal Mahal Purulia, Bankura, Jhargram as well as North Bengal — areas where the ruling TMC has been cautious this time.
Here’s a look at the key factors in the West Bengal Panchayat elections 2023:
How Will the TMC Perform in the Minority Belt?
Pre-poll violence in the state mostly unfolded in two minority-dominated areas — Bhangar and Murshidabad. It will be interesting to note whether there is any division in the TMC’s minority vote share here. The party has received the lion’s share of minority votes here since 2014. It must be noted that the Congress won the Sagardighi bypoll Murshidabad in March this year.
The party’s main challenger in Murshidabad is the Congress, while in Bhangar it is the Indian Secular Front. Keeping its minority vote share intact could be a challenge for the TMC this time.
How Will the BJP Do in Jangal Mahal and North Bengal?
Can the BJP hold onto its position in Jangal Mahal and North Bengal or will it lose dominance in these key areas?
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had mentioned the two areas in her Panchayat poll rally on July 3. “The BJP has destroyed Kashmir and Manipur through its divisive politics and is now after West Bengal. They support and instigate divisive forces and secessionist groups in North Bengal and Jangal Mahal (in the south) to divide the state. We will not allow division of the state and defeat such forces,” she had said.
The Congress and Left Fortunes
Both the Congress and the Left failed to open their score in the 2021 West Bengal Assembly elections. The former won the Sagardighi bypoll but MLA Bayron Biswas switched over to the TMC shortly after. Both parties have campaigned aggressively but whether that translated into electoral gains remains to be seen.
Violence had rocked the polling on Saturday, leaving 15 people dead while ballot boxes were vandalised, ballot papers torched, and bombs thrown at rivals in several places. The total death toll in the state since the poll process began on June 8, when the poll date was announced, has reportedly crossed 30.
A voter turnout of 80.71 per cent was recorded on Saturday, whereas 69.85 per cent of votes were cast till 5pm in 696 booths across West Bengal, where re-polling was held on Monday because of violence and tampering with ballot boxes and ballot papers on Saturday.
In the 2018 panchayat elections, the TMC won all 20 Zilla Parishads. That time also the voting was marred by widespread violence, with the opposition parties alleging they were prevented from filing nominations in many seats across the state.
Comments
0 comment