Bengal Panchayat elections: Repolling underway in nearly 700 booths, BJP, TMC in war of words over violence

There were no serious incidents reported as repolling began in roughly 700 booths across 19 districts in West Bengal where voting for panchayat elections had been deemed illegitimate following the unprecedented violence, officials said. The State Election Commission (SEC) ordered repolling at 696 booths on Sunday evening amid allegations of tampering with ballot boxes and rioting that left 15 people dead. The repolling started at 7 am amid tight security with four central forces personnel deployed in each booth, besides state police. Till 1 pm, 30.54 per cent voter turnout was recorded. Voting started late in a few booths as ballot boxes did not reach on time, officials said. These booths will be given extra time to complete the polling, they said. “No major untoward incidents were reported from the districts where repolling is underway. A couple of stray incidents happened and those were managed by the police,” an SEC official said. In Malda, locals blocked a booth in Dogachi in Raniganj panchayat in Gazole block, preventing the repoll. Polling could not be held on Saturday too as locals boycotted the vote demanding the repair of a road. As polling could not be held on Saturday, a repolling was ordered but that also could not be held as locals locked the booth, an official said. A road was blocked at Tehatta in Nadia in the morning but it was later cleared by the police. Voters also demonstrated outside a booth at Mayna in Purba Medinipur district, he said. The voting is scheduled to continue till 5 pm. Leader of opposition Suvendu Adhikari said the BJP submitted a list of 6,000 booths to the SEC, demanding repolling. “Actually false voting took place in 18,000 booths at the behest of the TMC. We are collecting more evidence. Our list was apparently overlooked by State Election Commissioner Rajiva Sinha, but we are not surprised. The list of booths suddenly announced by the SEC for repoll was submitted by TMC,” he claimed. “Detailed evidence backed up with ample video footage will be submitted to the Calcutta High Court on Tuesday, the day of the counting of votes,” he added. TMC state general secretary Kunal Ghosh alleged that the violence on the election day was perpetrated by opposition parties. “It is TMC that has suffered the most due to this opposition-sponsored violence. Central forces did not arrive despite requisition by the SEC. Today’s poll has been peaceful and it proves that SEC has taken steps to control the situation,” he said. Among the districts where repolling was being held, violence-hit Murshidabad has the highest number of booths at 175, followed by Malda with 109, officials said. Repolling was also being held at 89 booths in Nadia, followed by Cooch Behar (53), North 24 Parganas (46), Uttar Dinajpur (42), South 24 Parganas (36), Purba Medinipur (31) and Hooghly (29), they said. No repolling was ordered in Darjeeling, Jhargram and Kalimpong districts, they said. The decision for repolling was announced after reviewing reports of violence and tampering with ballot boxes and ballot papers, they added. Polling was held on Saturday in over 61,000 booths for the three-tier panchayat elections. In several places, ballot boxes were looted, set on fire and thrown in ponds, leading to violence. A total 5.67 crore people living in the state’s rural areas were eligible to decide the fate of 2.06 lakh candidates in 73,887 seats of the panchayat system.