West Bengal Panchayat polls violence: 8 people killed

West Bengal Panchayat Polls: Large scale irregularities and violence was reported during the polling for the panchayat polls in West Bengal on Saturday, July 8, 2023. Eight people were killed in election-related violence in West Bengal as voting was under way on Saturday for the three-tier panchayat polls in the state. 

Eight people lost their lives in election-related clashes in West Bengal. The BJP alleged that when BJP polling agent Madhab Biswas tried to enter the polling booth, he was stopped by TMC supporters, and as the situation escalated, they killed him. The TMC denied the allegations.

Voting started for about 7 am and reports of snatching of ballot papers and clashes started coming since the morning. Despite the orders of the Calcutta High Court that central forces be deployed outside every polling booth, at several places in the State no deployment of central forces outside the polling booths was seen.

The ruling Trinamool Congress tweeted three of its volunteers had been murdered and two injured, alleging a “colossal failure” on the part of central forces tasked with security. A BJP worker was killed in the Cooch Behar district, the party said. A polling booth at a school in the same district has been vandalised, and ballot papers set on fire.

Some 5.67 crore people are eligible to vote to choose representatives for nearly 928 seats across 22 zilla parishads, 9,730 panchayat samitis, and 63,229 gram panchayats seats. Since the day the polls were announced on June 8, widespread violence have been reported from across Bengal. Fifteen people including a teenager have died,

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who is from the Trinamool Congress, and the party’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee led the Trinamool campaign. They had stressed on the need to shun strong-arm tactics by its cadres and allow more democratic space to political opponents to avoid the rerun of the 2018 rural polls when it had won around 34 per cent seats uncontested.

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