West Bengal rural polls: TMC takes unassailable lead; BJP distant second

It’s TMC all the way.

TMC looks set to sweep the violence-scarred rural polls keeping intact the mandate it won two years ago during the Assembly polls by taking an early but seemingly unassailable lead in results declared till now by the State Election Commission.

The ruling TMC has won 16,330 gram panchayat seats out of the 23,344 seats declared, besides leading in 3,002 seats, according to the SEC as of 5.30 pm.

Its nearest rival BJP has won 3,790 seats and is leading in 802 seats.

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In all elections are being held for 63,229 gram panchayat seats. The Left Front has won 1,365 seats, of which the CPI(M) alone has won 1,206. The Left is currently leading in 621 seats. The Congress won 886 seats and is leading in 256. Other parties, which included the newly formed ISF won 937 seats and led in 190 seats, while independents, which included TMC rebels won 418 seats and led in 73 seats.

TMC has also won all 18 Zila Parishad results declared so far and is leading in 30 others while CPI(M) is leading in one. In all, there are 928 Zila Parishad seats.

“The results reflect the faith of people in TMC and the state government. It also shows that people have rejected the divisive politics of the BJP and the negative politics of the Congress and CPI (M),” TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said.

Counting of votes for the three-tier panchayat polls to nearly 74,000 seats which besides the gram panchayat seats, also includes 9,730 panchayat samiti seats and 928 zilla parishad seats, began at 8 am on Tuesday peacefully amid tight security, officials said.

There are around 339 counting venues spread across 22 districts. The maximum number of counting centres is in South 24 Parganas at 28, while the minimum is in Kalimpong at four. Some northern districts are also facing inclement weather.

“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.

BGPM leads in the Hills

In Darjeeling Hills, out of the 598 seats in Darjeeling and 281 in Kalimpong, the BGPM was leading in 21, whereas the BJP was head in one, and the independents were leading in four.

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 untoward incidents. There are a total of 767 strong rooms across 22 districts.

Large crowds of supporters of various candidates gathered at various centres to ensure that counting was conducted correctly.

In various districts, TMC supporters celebrated victory by dancing and smearing each other with Holi powder.

As initial trends started pouring in, a war of words broke out between the TMC and the BJP, with the latter accusing the ruling party of “making last desperate attempts to loot votes by blocking opposition agents from entering counting centres.”

“TMC goons are making desperate attempt to steal the elections by obstructing the counting agents and candidates of the BJP and other opposition political parties from entering counting centres. They are being restricted from going towards the venue, and bombs are being hurled to intimidate counting agents,” leader of the Opposition, Suvendu Adhikari, said.

Refuting the allegations, TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said, “Sensing defeat, they are making baseless allegations.”

“Rejected by people and sensing humiliating defeat, this is BJPs last attempt to come up with lame excuses to make up for its own organisational failures,” he said.

Violence had rocked West Bengal’s rural polls on Saturday, leaving 15 people dead while ballot boxes were vandalised, ballot papers torched, and bombs thrown at rivals in several places.

Of those killed, 11 were affiliated with the TMC. The total death toll in the state since the poll process began on June 8, when the dates were announced, has crossed 30.

A voter turnout of 80.71 percent was recorded on Saturday, whereas a vote percentage of 69.85 was recorded till 5 pm in 696 booths across West Bengal, where re polling was held on Monday.

The decision for re-polling was taken after reviewing reports of violence and tampering with ballot boxes and ballot papers on Saturday.

A total of 5.67 crore people living in the state’s rural areas were eligible to decide the fate of 2.06 lakh candidates in 73,887 seats of the panchayat system.

Saturday’s violence was in keeping with the state’s history of violent rural elections, including the 2003 panchayat polls, which gained notoriety for its cumulative death toll of 76 during the poll process, with nearly 40 killed on the day of polling.

This year, with more than 30 killed since polls were announced earlier last month, the toll remained almost equal to that of the previous panchayat elections in 2018.

However, this time, the Opposition had fielded candidates in more than 90 percent of seats, unlike in 2018 rural polls, when the ruling TMC had won 34 percent of the seats uncontested.

In the 2018 rural polls, the ruling TMC had emerged victorious in 90 percent of the panchayat seats and all the 22 zilla parishads. The elections were marred by widespread violence, with the Opposition alleging they were prevented from filing nominations in several seats.

(With Agency inputs)