West Bengal Panchayat Elections: A Resounding Blow to Democracy

Kolkata: West Bengal witnessed arguably one of the most farcical elections in the country in recent times, starting from the nomination-filing phase to the withdrawal of nominations phase, the election day, and the counting stage. The entire poll process was allegedly "managed" by the Trinamool Congress (TMC) hooligans, as claimed by the opposition in the state. During the nomination filing phase, BDO offices in more than 50 blocks of the state remained out of bounds for the opposition, as TMC hooligans allegedly “laid siege” to the block development offices.

In the mainstream media, a question was asked: why the opposition is not finding a way to submit nominations in the terror-hit blocks? The ground reality, however, was too precarious for those who attempted.

On the third day of the nomination filing process in the Bhangore-I block in South 24 Parganas, CPI(M) and Indian Secular Front (ISF) activists tried to break free from the cordon set up before the BDO office. The police, at first, reportedly threatened the Left-ISF combine with dire consequences. However, both the police and TMC hooligans resorted to allegedly opening fire on unarmed Left-ISF activists, resulting in the death of three ISF activists.

On the polling day, violence erupted in Bhangore again near Kanthalia High School, resulting in the death of two people. Subsequently, during the counting phase, ISF candidate Jahanara Bibi, who had won the number 82 seat in Bhangore, was initially declared the winner with a margin of 4,000 votes. However, it has been alleged that moments later, the BDO, under the insistence of TMC's history sheeter Arabul Islam, declared her the loser and the block administration refused to issue her the winning certificate. The police and block officials have been accused of exerting pressure on Jahanara Bibi to surrender and admit defeat, but she staunchly refused. As tensions escalated, villagers gathered near the counting centre and firing broke out. The ISF supporters claimed that they started protesting peacefully “only to face police firing, resulting in three more ISF supporters losing their lives”.

The counting process on Tuesday late at night was also marred by violent clashes between ISF and TMC and TMC supporters outside the counting centre in Bhangore. According to reports, ISF supporters Rezaul Gazi (23) and Hasan Mollah (26) died in the violence, and another person named Raju Mollah was reportedly dead as well.

Over 334 Left and ISF supporters were held by the police, as alleged by the opposition. Stories of ballot boxes being opened a day before the polling day have also surfaced in the media, as have the gory tales of hundreds of left activists getting attacked by “TMC hooligans”. The terror unleashed during the counting phase was particularly sinister this time, as TMC MLAs, along with hooligans, allegedly entered the counting stations and forcibly removed the opposition counting agents in many districts of the state.

The losing TMC candidates resorted to various desperate measures to be declared winners, according to those on the ground. One candidate reportedly even ate the ballot papers with opposition imprints, while another “threw ink and water” on some of the ballot papers to invalidate them. Others employed hooligans to disrupt the counting process when they were trailing, hoping to create chaos and seek a recount. After driving out the opposition agents, they allegedly managed to manipulate the recounting process in empty halls – leading to their declaration as winners.

Another feature of this year's election was that a section of BDOs has been accused widely of resorting to unfair means to declare the TMC candidates as winners. These types of anomalies were reported from Murshidabad, Burdwan East (in Galsi, Klana, and Raina blocks), Birbhum, Hooghly, Nadia, Malda, and even in Burdwan West districts.

Though the Trinamool Congress retained its hold in rural Bengal with the panchayat election 2023 results, winning nearly 52% of the seats, TMC's vote share – if juxtaposed with the last Assembly election results – has dropped drastically. The BJP's vote share also decreased from 40% in 2019 to 38% in 2021. The clear gainer despite all the scuffles was the Left, ISF, and Congress combine, who improved from getting 10% of polled votes in last year's Assembly elections to 21% in this year's Panchayat polls. The increase in the Left's vote share was consistent with the trends in the last civic polls and Assembly by-polls.

However, poll violence and the controversial results proved to be a bone in the throat for Mamata Banerjee's party. While the Trinamool Congress marked this victory as "the victory of the people” and democracy, the election's contentious nature cast a shadow over the celebration.

Speaking to the media on July 12, CPI(M) West Bengal state secretary Md Salim questioned the validity of the panchayat elections when several instances of violence against opposition parties occurred during the nomination and campaigning process. Md Salim stated, "People wanted to regain people’s panchayat, but TMC, state government, and the Election Commission developed a system to betray the people." The CPI(M) also accused the Mamata Banerjee-led government of manipulating the counting process.

The polit bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) issued a statement expressing solidarity "with the people of West Bengal struggling for democracy." The declaration stated: "The state administration and the state Election Commission, acting in complicity with the ruling party, engaged in large-scale falsification of the choice exercised by the people, violating the orders of the State Election Commission. There was an open violation of directions of the High Court." The CPI(M) Polit Bureau also urged the democratic-minded people of the country to stand with the people of West Bengal at this grim juncture.

Banerjee also admitted the occurrence of violence, although she shifted the blame to the opposition. "The candidates and party workers who lost their lives in the panchayat elections, I'm deeply saddened by their deaths, regardless of what their political affiliations were," said the CM. She announced assistance of Rs 2 lakhs to the affected families and promised to provide a job in the Home Guard to the kin of those who lost their lives on the polling day.