Bengal panchayat polls: TMC tries US-style candidate selection, hits hurdles

A Trinamool Congress (TMC) booth president travelled enthusiastically to Jalpaiguri’s Rajganj along with his party colleagues from Paharpur Gram Panchayat on Saturday to take part in what is billed as the first-of-its-kind initiative in the country to cleanse West Bengal’s polity. Biswajit Raha, TMC president of Paharpur booth no 18/12, however, returned from the event a dejected man, putting a question mark on the poll initiative that has promised not only to reform the party but also West Bengal politics.

The TMC last week started the process of selecting its over 73,000 candidates for the upcoming three-tier panchayat polls through secret ballot, taking a cue from the primaries that political parties in the United States conduct to pick their presidential nominee.

Party general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, who is spearheading the unprecedented initiative, claims the process would take “representative democracy one step ahead” by “fostering grassroots democracy”.

Also read: BJP’s intimidatory tactics wont work, TMC will win 240 seats in 2026 Bengal polls: Abhishek

The programme, titled ‘Trinamool-ey Nabajowar’ (‘New Wave in Trinamool’), according to Abhishek, will also help end the culture of political violence associated with rural polls for decades.

Abhishek’s move

To ensure that the “right set of public representatives” is identified, TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee’s nephew embarked on a two-month state-wide tour, covering around 3,500 km. He will address over 250 rallies in the course of his journey. Ballot boxes are kept at the venues of the rallies for the party workers to name through secret ballot their chosen candidate for the panchayat elections.

But far from what it has promised, a few rounds of balloting held so far have only caused embarrassment for the beleaguered TMC, which is already besieged by corruption charges, arrest of several of its leaders by central agencies, as well as factionalism.

The Paharpur booth president said he was not allowed to vote because he was an “outsider”. Raha was not alone. There have been many such allegations, as the drive has been marred from the beginning by rigging, ballot snatching, vandalism, and even clashes, prompting the Opposition to write off the entire exercise as another of the TMC’s political gimmicks.

Also read: Bengal model will show the way for 2023, beyond: TMCs Abhishek

The exercise kickstarted at Gosanimari in Cooch Behar district on April 25 with a scuffle between two groups of TMC supporters, forcing the party to countermand the exercise at the venue even as the police intervened to bring the situation under control.

Similar unruly scenes, including looting of ballots, were witnessed in Jalpaiguri district’s Maynaguri, Rajganj, Domohani, and Dabgram-Phulbari on Saturday where balloting was organised for about 50 panchayat areas.

BJP criticism

“This entire exercise is nothing but a political gimmick of the TMC to divert people’s attention from corruption and cut-money culture that the party has become synonymous with,” said senior BJP leader Ali Hossain.

“In the name of taking people’s opinion, the TMC is doing the mock drills of how to loot the panchayat elections,” said BJP Jalpaiguri district president Bapi Goswami.

Even many in the TMC are sceptical of the drive, which is allegedly being conceptualised by the political consultancy firm I-PAC, keeping most of the party leaders in the dark.

“We have just been given an order to execute the plan without being explained the complicated process. Most of us in the party are not aware of the nitty-gritty of the process,” said a TMC leader from Cooch Behar district.

He said the real test of the exercise would be in the counting process. In the absence of complete transparency, the entire exercise could end up centralising the candidate-selection process bypassing the grassroots organisations, he feared.

Another TMC leader said the current process was fraught with problems.

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“The balloting is taking place for a cluster of panchayats at a particular venue where Abhishek Banerjee is addressing a rally. Party functionaries from all the panchayat areas concerned are asked to attend the rally and pick their choicest candidate, but generally not more than a few thousands attend the rallies. It is quite possible that even those few thousands are mobilised by the aspiring candidates. So ultimately, those who have more money and muscle power to mobilise crowds might end up getting more votes,” he explained.

TMC’s embarrassment

After the first day’s disruptions, Abhishek said apart from secret ballots, one could also pick a candidate by making a phone call to a particularly mobile number (78877 78877) he had circulated. Many have complaints that even after several attempts, they could not place their call to the given number, as it is constantly engaged.

That not everyone in the party is on the same page on the unprecedented candidate-selection process was further evident when party’s Islampur MLA Abdul Karim Chowdhury on Sunday said he would send a list of his preferred panchayat candidates to Mamata Banerjee.

Also read: Mamata vows to quit if proven she phoned Amit Shah over TMC status

“If the party denies them tickets, they will contest as independents,” the veteran legislator said in a virtual revolt against the Abhishek Banerjee-led exercise.

Abhishek’s push for “One Person One Post” policy in the party last year was thwarted by old guards averse to reform. The fate of his present initiative would be known after two months.