Mamta Banerjee's TMC seems to be winning the election unilaterally
The results of the Panchayat elections have started coming in West Bengal. The counting of votes started at 8 am. TMC is leading in the initial trends. According to Aaj Tak, the counting of votes is being done on 63,229 seats of Gram Panchayat in Bengal. TMC is leading in 452 of these seats. While BJP has an edge of 21 seats. Counting is also going on for 9730 seats of Panchayat Samiti. In these, TMC is leading in 136 seats. While the accounts of BJP, Congress and CPI have not even been opened yet.
Voting for the Panchayat elections was held in Bengal on 8 July. But, due to violence in many areas during polling, the Election Commission decided to conduct re-polling at 697 booths on July 10. So far 39 people have died in the violence in Bengal. On the night of 10th July too, TMC and BJP supporters clashed outside the voting center in Cooch Behar's Dinhata.
West Bengal Governor CV Anand Bose had met Union Home Minister Amit Shah and President Draupadi Murmu in Delhi regarding the violence during the elections. He has submitted a report to both of them regarding the violence that took place during the elections.
Where did the violence happen?
In Bengal, 39 people died in the panchayat elections, out of which 19 people died on the day of the elections i.e. 8th of July itself. 11 TMC workers were killed. Three BJP workers, three Congress workers, and two CPIM workers have lost their lives. These incidents of violence took place in Murshidabad, Cooch Behar, East Burdwan, Malda, Nadia, North 24 Parganas and South 24 Parganas.
Incidents of fighting, booth looting and arson at polling booths came to the fore in these areas. In Coochbehar, TMC workers broke ballot boxes, poured water on them and set them on fire. Ballot papers and election-related materials were burnt at many places in Uttar Dinajpur. Water was also poured into the ballot box in Dakshin Dinajpur. Many people were also injured in the violence.
In view of the violence in the elections, the BJP had written a letter to the State Election Commission demanding the re-election of panchayats in Bengal. The Election Commission, while marking 697 booths in 19 districts, decided to conduct re-voting on them on July 10. Apart from the state police, four central force personnel were also deployed at every booth to prevent violence from happening again.