West Bengal panchayat poll: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday asserted claimed that the panchayat nomination process was "peaceful". She also slammed opposition parties for trying to make an issue out of “one or two stray” incidents. The statement came a day after news reports stated that at least three died in clashes during the last day to file nominations for the panchayat polls scheduled to be held on July 8.
Banerjee’s comments come shortly after Governor C V Ananda Bose said that political violence in the state must come to an end, after visiting Bhangore, where supporters of two parties clashed a day before, leaving three dead. The Governor had said he has already discussed the situation with Banerjee.
'CPI(M), Congress, BJP and the ISF are trying to blame us'
"There is no other state other than Bengal where the panchayat poll nomination process is so peaceful. The opposition parties - CPI(M), Congress, BJP and the ISF are trying to blame us over one or two incidents during the nomination exercise," the chief minister said.
She was addressing the concluding session of the two-month-long ‘Trinamool eh Nabojowar’ (New Wave in Trinamool). Hitting out at the Congress for "allying with the BJP and CPI(M)", Banerjee also said the grand old party should not expect TMC to support them nationally in the fight against the BJP.
Earlier in the day, the Governor had told reporters that some “undesirable incidents” have happened in some parts of Bengal. “I have made my inferences of them. No violence will be tolerated and we will have to end it," he said, after taking stock of the situation in Bhangore.
Banerjee rejected claims that the opposition candidates were not allowed to file nominations, stating that over 1.5 lakh nomination papers have been filed by them for the July 8 polls. "Have you ever heard that 2.31 lakh nominations for rural polls have been filed in any other state? Over 1.5 lakh nominations have been filed by opposition parties alone, yet you are claiming that they weren't able to file nominations.Isn't this paradoxical?" the TMC supremo said.
Widespread violence over the filing of nominations so far has left five people dead and several injured in various parts of the state. "Over the past few days, I have noticed how politics is being played against me and my Trinamool family. This Baam (Left)-Raam (BJP)-Shyam (Congress) have joined hands and are hell-bent on defeating us," she said.
She criticised opposition parties for seeking central forces to conduct the rural polls, referring to the violence and bloodshed that occurred during village council elections under the CPI (M) regime. “During the 2021 Bengal (assembly) elections, these central forces shot dead innocent people in Sitalkuchi," she said, questioning how many companies of central forces are sent to other states. "Why are central forces not being sent to Manipur, where so many people have died?” Banerjee asked, though army and paramilitary forces were deployed in the ethnic violence affected northeastern state.
The TMC supremo also mentioned that the 2013 West Bengal panchayat polls, held under the supervision of central forces, too witnessed violence and 49 people died.
Calcutta HC extends by a day filing of Bengal panchayat nominations
Meanwhile, the Calcutta High Court directed that prospective candidates who were allegedly prevented from filing nominations at Basirhat in North 24 Parganas district be allowed to file their papers for the panchayat elections in West Bengal.
(With PTI inputs)
