KOLKATA: Since the earlier Left Front regime political clashes, violence and massacre have turn out to be synonymous with the polls within the panchayat elections in West Bengal. As days handed on, it reached the intense factors within the final two panchayat polls in 2013 and 2018, with 34 per cent seats within the the agricultural civic physique system leading to uncontested victory for the ruling Trinamool Congress in 2018.
However this time, the character of violence had been barely completely different from the earlier two elections on two grounds. The first distinction is that this time the massacre has began for the reason that nomination part between June 9 and June 15, with six deaths already being reported from completely different pockets of the state.
Political observers really feel that this early entry of massacre is as a result of not like the earlier two panchayat polls when the ruling social gathering had complete on- floor management, this time there had been cussed retaliations and resistance from the opposition forces. Now with the massacre determine being so excessive in the course of the nomination part solely and contemplating that these retaliations will proceed, everyone seems to be apprehensive of what form the violence will take within the forthcoming phases of scrutiny of nomination papers, withdrawal of nominations, polling and counting phases and at last the post-counting interval.
Political observers have famous one other fascinating issue of the nomination- interval violence which is that greater than BJP because the principal opposition drive within the state, the cussed resistance has come from Congress and CPI(M), that are numerically zero when it comes to meeting illustration – and from All India Secular Front (AISF), which has only one MLA.
From Bhangar in South 24 Parganas, the place AISF`s Naushad Siddique is the only real consultant of the social gathering in West Bengal meeting, this two-year previous social gathering is increase the resistance towards ruling Trinamool Congress, in areas like Minakhan in North 24 Parganas whereas in Borsul in East Burdwan, the tussle is principally between CPI(M) and Trinamool Congress. On the opposite hand, in Murshidabad district and Chopra in North Dinajpur, Congress employees with an affiliation of CPI(M) activists are taking the retaliation lead.
Of the six deaths reported in the course of the nomination part, three had been reported from Bhangar, two from Murshidabad and one from Chopra in North Dinajpur. The three casualties in Bhangar embrace a candidate and an activist of AISF with the third one being an area chief of Trinamool Congress. The two casualties from Murshidabad district embrace one every from Congress and Trinamool Congress camps. The casualty from Chopra is a CPI(M) candidate.
Observers really feel that the sample of political inclination of the casualties additionally indicated that the assaults and counter-attacks are concentrated between Congress-AISF-Left Front mixed and ruling Trinamool Congress. Meanwhile, though the division bench of the Calcutta High Court`s Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnanam had ordered deployment of central armed forces all through the state for the panchayat polls, the state authorities and the West Bengal State Election Commission have approached the Supreme Court towards the order.
According to veteran political observer and columnist Sabyasachi Bandopadhyay, a lot of the onus of the early violence lies with the State Election Commission. “Former chief secretary of West Bengal Rajiva Sinha was appointed as the state election commissioner on June 7 and on the very next day he announced the date of the election. This indicates lack of minimum homework before making the announcement. And now as the commission and state government approach the apex court to stall the deployment of central armed forces, questions are bound to arise about the seriousness of the two in ensuring free and fair polls,” Bandopadhyay added.
Industry observer Santanu Sanyal feels that greater than this massacre, what’s much more alarming for West Bengal is the image of the state that’s being portrayed nationally or globally and how much alerts such violence are sending to the potential traders. “In this age of Internet, the entire globe, especially the non-resident Bengalis, who act as the virtual brand ambassadors for West Bengal nationally and globally, are monitoring the day-to-day scenes over the rural civic body polls. What are the signals that they are getting?” Sanyal mentioned.
Meanwhile, Trinamool Congress management together with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has continued to say that the nomination course of had by no means been so peaceable in the course of the earlier Left Front regime.
