Panchayat Poll Violence Might Trigger Fresh TMC-Opposition Face-off

Kolkata: A fairly large number of supporters and sympathisers turned up at the joint protest rally organised by the CPI(M), Congress and Indian Secular Front (ISF) from the Ramlila Maidan to Esplanade in the state capital on Thursday to decry the ruling TMC’s “connivance” with election officials and the violence during the panchayat polls. 

After the protesters announced to intensify the agitation in the weeks ahead, there could be a fresh confrontation between the three opposition parties and the TMC. 

“The ruling TMC with the active support of the State Election Commission (SEC) has murdered democracy in the name of holding panchayat polls, where the Left and Congress candidates and their families were threatened and attacked,” CPI(M) state secretary Md Salim said during the rally. 

Besides Salim, Left Front chairman Biman Bose and other senior Left and Congress leaders were among the 1,000 rally participants. 

The speakers alleged that the “connivance was supplemented with extensive vandalism and violence by unruly TMC members”, which denied a level playing field to the Opposition in the election. Though compared to the 2018 Panchayat election, the Opposition’s performance was better. 

On Tuesday, BSF deputy inspector general SS Guleria said that the SEC didn’t reply to several letters written since July 5 seeking details of sensitive booths where Central Armed Police Force was to be deployed. However, SEC chief Rajiva Sinha rubbished the allegation the same day saying that details were shared during several meetings with the force. 

Political observers and civil society activists feel that the Opposition would have been helpless without interventions by the Calcutta High Court (HC) and the Supreme Court. Three petitions in the HC had alleged large-scale violence and electoral malpractice during the July 18 election and requested repolling in around 50,000 booths. Subsequently, repolling was done in 696 booths.

The HC said on Wednesday said that the election and the declaration of results will be subject to its final orders in the petitions and directed the SEC, the state government and the Centre to file affidavits dealing with the allegations in the petitions.

For the first time since the 2021 Assembly election, the Left Front, Congress and ISF—which took shape under Abbas Siddique of Furfura Sharief (a Muslim holy place in the Hooghly district) came together for a meeting. 

This year’s election was slightly different with the Opposition offering resistance to the TMC, which explains the perceptible drop in the ‘elected unopposed’ seats to 10-12% from 34% in 2018. 

Despite the “inadequate SEC and security support”, both the Left Front and the Congress improved their performances. 

“While the Opposition managed to get just 20% of the Gram Panchayat seats last time, it has won about 27%-28% of the seats,” Rajat Roy, a senior political commentator and an advisor of the think tank Calcutta Research Group, told PTI. 

The Left and the Congress snagged 6,000 Gram Panchayat seats against 1,500 in 2018. “There has been a distinct Left resurgence which you can see in the election results, especially in Murshidabad, Nadia, Hooghly and Bardhaman districts,” Roy added.

ISF, which debuted in the panchayat polls, too won a few seats. Significantly, the ISF snagged Bhangar (South 24 Parganas) from TMC strongman Arabul Islam, showing the increasing dominance of ISF MLA Naushad Siddique.

While TMC violence defined the polls in the pains, the hills, comprising the Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts—where elections were held to Gram Panchayats and Panchayat Samitis after 22 years—were peaceful.

The hills also saw the emergence of Anit Thapa and his Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrk Morcha (BGPM) as the favourite. Thapa and his outfit are already control the Gorkha Territorial Administration and the Darjeeling Municipally. Now, with most of the panchayat units under BGPM’s fold, Thapa has become a powerful politician in the hills with the TMC as its junior ally. 

Asked whether direct cash benefit transfer under several schemes generally and Lakshmir Bhandar Scheme for women particularly helped the TMC, Roy agreed. “But cash benefit schemes aren’t sustainable. The economy and the sustainability of schemes do not bother them. In fact, Mamta Banerjee might announce new schemes,” he said.

Professor Subhamoy Maitra of Indian Statistical Institute said that “a logical assessment of the panchayat election is not possible given what has happened on the ground”. 

“There was no doubt that the TMC would get a clean majority. Therefore, why this denial of a level playing field to the Opposition? No other state witnesses the situation prevalent in West Bengal before, during and after an election,” Maitra said.

According to Ashok Ghosh, a central secretariat member of the Revolutionary Socialist Party and president of the United.

Trade Union Congress, the “Opposition’s improving performance and capacity to resist is causing concern and apprehension to the TMC top brass”. 

“The judiciary and civil society together must stem the rot. There is no denying that some of the court verdicts and interventions have been useful. But this process has to gain momentum. A sustained and coordinated agitation by civil society is urgent in West Bengal,” he added.

The writer is a Kolkata-based freelance journalist.