Amid tight security, stage for West Bengal Panchayat elections today

2023 West Bengal Panchayat Election: Nearly 65,000 active central police personnel and 70,000 state police personnel will be deployed for the polls.

2023 West Bengal Panchayat Election: Amid tight security, the stage is all set for the 2023 West Bengal Panchayat Election on Saturday. This time around 5.67 crore voters are likely to exercise their right to vote to elect representatives for nearly 928 seats in 22 zilla parishes, 9,730 panchayat samities and 63,229 gram panchayats seats.

From the moment the election dates were announced on June 8, widespread violence was reported in various parts of West Bengal leading to the deaths of more than a dozen people, including a teenager.

Security arrangement present

The polls to elect representatives for village councils will be conducted under the watchful eye of central forces for the second time since the inception of the Panchayati Raj system in Bengal in the late 1970s.

Nearly 65,000 active central police officers and 70,000 national police officers will be deployed for the polls.

Election campaign ends

Ahead of the election, Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee and the party’s National Secretary General Abhishek Banerjee led the party’s campaign while emphasizing the need to eschew strong-arm tactics from its cadres and adopt more democratic to give room to political opponents, to repeat the 2018 national polls, when it had won about 34 percent of uncontested seats.

On the other hand, BJP State President Sukanta Majumdar, National Vice President Dilip Ghosh and Opposition Leader Suvendu Adhikari led the campaign of the Saffron Party, while State Congress Speaker Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and CPI(M) Secretary of State Mohammed Salim led their parties. respective polls.

In the Panchayat Elections in West Bengal, Raj Bhavan took an active role in tackling the issue of polls for the first time, with Governor CV Ananda Bose opening a ‘Peace Home’ at the Governor’s house to address complaints from the aam aadmi to treat.

“BJP seems to forget that people vote and not the central forces. If the BJP does not have the support of the people, no matter how many central forces you seek, the mandate will not change,” said Abhishek Banerjee.

West Bengal Panchayat Polls 2013 Results

In the 2013 panchayat polls, the TMC won more than 85 percent of the seats, despite the heavy deployment of central troops.

In the 2018 nationwide polls, the TMC won 90 percent of panchayat seats and all 22 zilla parishes. However, these elections were marred by widespread violence and malpractice, with the opposition claiming they were unable to submit nominations for several seats.

“The TMC wants to make the rural polls a repeat of 2018, but we will not let that happen this time. BJP will defeat the TMC,” said Majumdar.

Chowdhury had said that the TMC’s “grabbing everything mentality”, with no room for any form of opposition, led to this anarchic situation.