As the counting of votes for the West Bengal panchayat elections enters day two, the state's ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) has made a clean sweep of the polls. The party's win was declared by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday after she thanked the people for the party's stupendous show.
The counting for the election to the three-tier panchayat system, comprising zilla parishad, panchayat samiti and gram panchayat, was still underway.
As of Tuesday night, the TMC won 29,665 seats at the gram panchayat level. It was leading in 1,527 seats. The opposition BJP bagged 8,021 seats and was leading in 406 seats. The CPI(M) won 2,472 seats and was leading in 239 seats, while its ally Congress won 2,094 seats and was leading in 131 seats.
Banerjee took to Facebook to thank the voters. "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," her post read.
However, the BJP has not acknowledged TMC's election sweep after the state chief Sukanta Majumdar staged a sit-in protest outside a counting centre at Balurghat College under Dakshin Dinajpur district late on Tuesday night. He alleged fabrication in panchayat poll results.
Majumdar added that he will be opting for legal action in the matter. "Despite our candidates winning in the elections...the results are being fabricated. The ruling party has brought criminals inside the counting centre to help their candidates win by rigging the counting. The Block Development Officer (BDO) is biased and is an agent of TMC," ANI quoted him.
#WATCH | South Dinajpur, WB: BJP State President Sukanta Majumdar says, "...Despite our candidates winning in the elections...the results are being fabricated. The ruling party has brought criminals inside the counting centre to help their candidates win by rigging the counting.… pic.twitter.com/G197YzwXDI
— ANI (@ANI) July 11, 2023
The BJP continues to train its guns on the ruling party for what it called "state-sponsored" violence and claimed that at least 45 people have died in the clashes. This comes as the elections were marred by widespread violence and allegations of booth tampering.
"In West Bengal, elections and violence have become synonymous...Around 45 people have been killed as far as Panchayat polls in West Bengal are concerned. Words like firing, bombing, murder and vote rigging are being used for the Panchayat elections...This is not accidental, this is a state-sponsored murder of democracy. It is an institutional murder, that is, from the police administration to the district officers and the administrative officers, everything is involved," Patra said.
Opposition leader Suvendu Adhikari too had blamed the results on "election malpractice". "I had a few rounds of conversation with Union home minister Amit Shah today but we did not discuss the election results even once. Our discussion was on the violence during counting day,” Adhikari told reporters on Tuesday.
The Left and the Congress too have maintained that the results were a farce.
Vote counting is on at 339 venues spread across 22 districts and is likely to carry over to Wednesday. "Counting began at 8 am and is likely to continue for the next two days. It will take time for the ballots to be counted and the results to be compiled," an SEC official said.
All the counting venues are manned by armed state police personnel and central forces, with prohibitory orders under Section 144 of CrPC being imposed outside the venue to avoid any untoward incidents. There are a total of 767 strong rooms across 22 districts.
