West Bengal Assembly debates panchayat poll violence, BJP stages walkout

The Chief Minister in her address said that violence in the panchayat polls occurred at only seven places and 29 persons have lost their lives, which includes 14 in pre-poll violence and 15 on the day of polling.

West Bengal Legislative Assembly on Thursday discussed the violence in the recently concluded panchayat polls which were marred by violence and allegations of electoral malpractices. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari were engaged in a heated exchange of words regarding violence and electoral malpractices in the recent panchayat polls, at the West Bengal Legislative Assembly on Thursday.

Subsequently, an adjournment motion was tabled in the House by the BJP chief whip and Alipurduar MLA Manoj Tigga.

While Mr. Adhikari made scathing allegations of irregularities across 20,000 polling booths during the panchayat polls, Ms. Banerjee responded by alleging that the BJP had cut off the power during the counting of votes at the Nandigram Assembly seat in 2021, besides other irregularities that helped Mr. Adhikari defeat the Chief Minister by a margin of 1,956 votes. Ms. Banerjee had filed an election petition challenging the results.

After the Chief Minister’s reference to Nandigram, BJP legislators led by Mr. Adhikari raised slogans and walked out of the House in protest.

The Chief Minister in her address said that the violence in the panchayat polls occurred at only seven places and 29 people lost their lives —14 in pre-poll violence and 15 on the day of polling. Ms. Banerjee went on to highlight the number of people killed in earlier panchayat elections. She alleged that 79 people had died in panchayat polls in 2003, 39 in 2008, 38 in 2013 and 22 in 2018.

After the Chief Minister’s reference to Nandigram, BJP Legislators led by Mr. Adhikari raised slogans in the Assembly and walked out of the House in protest. The Chief Minister in her address said that violence in the panchayat polls occurred at only seven places and 29 persons have lost their lives, which includes 14 in pre-poll violence and 15 on the day of polling. Ms. Banerjee went on to highlight the number of people killed in earlier panchayat elections in the State. The Chief Minister said that 79 people had died in panchayat polls in 2003, followed by 39 deaths in 2008, 38 deaths in 2013 and 22 deaths in 2018 panchayat polls.

The Chief Minister claimed that she has information about a meeting of BJP leaders in Delhi, where the agenda was “divide society on caste and religion” in West Bengal on similar lines of Manipur. She said that it was also discussed at the meeting to highlight alleged crimes against women and weaker sections, including SCs/ STs and Rajbangshi and Gorkhas and creating a situation where the West Bengal government can be overthrown. Ms. Banerjee also alleged that the saffron party has also planned to fund “any party that can divide the votes of the Trinamool Congress”.