West Bengal: Amid graft cases, TMC faces panchayat acid test before LS polls

Ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the corruption allegation-riddled Trinamool Congress (TMC) in West Bengal faces a pre-test in the form of the panchayat election on July 8.

The party realises that though dynamics of Lok Sabha and village council elections may differ, winning the rural heartland of Bengal is crucial for securing maximum parliamentary seats and exerting influence in national politics next year.

The state’s three-tier panchayat elections encompass an electorate of about 5.67 crore, who will choose representatives for nearly 74,000 seats in Zilla Parishads, Panchayat Samitis, and Gram Panchayats.

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“Given the enormity of the panchayat elections, it is not only going to be a test of the mass support in the backdrop of canards against us but also a bellwether for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls in Bengal,” senior TMC leader and MP Sougata Roy told PTI.

Most LS seats in rural areas

With most of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state being in rural and semi-rural areas administered by panchayats, gaining the upper hand over their rivals in the parliamentary elections next year hinges on the success of exerting influence in these rural areas.

“Our party is going through a crucial phase. Since the rural polls are fought on party symbols, the respective parties’ influence and weakness can be gauged,” he said.

Political analyst Maidul Islam said the rural polls are of immense importance to the TMC in the context of national elections next year, as 80–85 per cent of the Lok Sabha seats have a rural electorate.

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“For the TMC, the road to Delhi in 2024 goes through rural Bengal, and having control over maximum panchayats is key to it, as 85 per cent of parliament seats have a rural vote base,” he said.

Biggest challenge is peaceful polls

However, according to party sources, the biggest challenge is ensuring peaceful elections and no rerun of the violence-marred 2018 panchayat polls.

In the rural polls held five years ago, the TMC won 90 per cent of the panchayat seats and all 22 Zilla Parishads. However, these elections were marred by widespread violence and malpractices, with the Opposition alleging that they were prevented from filing nominations in several seats.

“The state election commission has to ensure free and fair polls. The party leadership has already communicated to the grassroots workers that the elections must be free and fair. Our leader Abhishek Banerjee has been repeatedly saying this,” Roy said.

Echoing him, TMC’s Lok Sabha party leader Sudip Bandyopadhyay told PTI that local leaders must implement the instructions of the party top brass at the ground level.

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“The rural elections and their results impact the Lok Sabha polls. Even though we are confident of winning the panchayat polls based on the development work done by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, it must be ensured that people’s mandate and opinion are reflected in the results,” he said.

Image issues

Another TMC leader, who did not wish to be named, said the rural polls would also test the success of TMC’s mass outreach campaign, “Trinamool-ey Nabo Jowar” (New tide in Trinamool) led by party’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee.

The campaign was aimed at weeding out rotten elements and seeking feedback from the people on their preferred candidates, whom the party will nominate.

The elections will be held at a time when several of the party’s senior leaders are behind bars in various graft cases being probed by the CBI and the ED, and other top leaders are busy shuttling between courtrooms and central agency offices for questioning.

Political scientist Biswanath Chakraborty said the panchayat polls have thrown up multi-cornered challenges before the TMC, including its attempt for an image makeover.

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Dent in public support?

However, TMC’s Rajya Sabha deputy leader Sukhendu Sekhar Roy told PTI that the allegations of corruption would not be able to dent the party’s public support.

“Even when TMC leaders were arrested by central agencies because of BJP’s vendetta, the party won maximum seats from Bengal in 2014,” he said.

Congress state president Adhir Chowdhury blamed the TMC leadership for trying to send out a message that it is invincible in Bengal, and that is why “it wants to either create a situation where opposition parties are unable to file nominations or are just not allowed to by the use of force”.

BJP’s national vice-president Dilip Ghosh said TMC’s “grab all by any means” mindset has led to local body elections in Bengal turning into a “farce”. “The SEC has given only seven days to file nominations, which was done to help the TMC,” he alleged.

(With agency inputs)