West Bengal panchayat polls: Alleging fabrication in the panchayat poll results, West Bengal BJP president Sukanta Majumdar sat on a dharna (sit-in protest) outside a counting centre at Balurghat College under Dakshin Dinajpur district late on Tuesday night. The counting of votes for the panchayat elections was conducted on Tuesday in which Trinamool Congress registered a landslide victory. Accusing the ruling TMC of manipulating the results, Majumdar warned that he will be opting for legal action in the matter.
"Despite our candidates winning in the elections...the results were being fabricated. The Block Development Officer is biased and is an agent of TMC. I am here to meet the BDO, but he is not here...We will go for legal action," Majumdar added. The BJP chief also claimed that the ruling party brought "criminals" inside the counting centre to help their candidates win by rigging the counting.
BJP terms violence in state as 'state-sponsored'
Meanwhile, the saffron party also slammed TMC over violence during the panchayat polls terming it "state-sponsored" and claimed that at least 45 people lost their lives in the clashes. According to reports, the voting day was tainted by widespread violence, ballot paper vandalism, and voting machine tampering. There were also reports of booth capturing and assault on presiding officers in several districts, including Cooch Behar, Murshidabad, Malda, North Dinajpur, Nadia and South 24 Parganas.
Amid the counting of votes on Tuesday, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra launched a scathing attack on Mamata Banerjee-led TMC. Addressing a press conference, Patra claimed that killings in the state are "institutional murder." He also said that elections and violence have become synonymous in West Bengal "...Around 45 people have been killed as far as panchayat polls in the state are concerned. Words like firing, bombing, murder and vote rigging are being used for the panchayat elections...This is not accidental, this is a state-sponsored murder of democracy. It is an institutional murder, that is, from the police administration to the district officers and the administrative officers, everything is involved," Patra claimed.
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Panchayat polls result
The TMC has won 30,391 seats in the three-tier panchayat elections in West Bengal, while it was leading on 1,767 seats, according to the results declared by the State Election Commission (SEC) till 11:30 pm on Tuesday night. Meanwhile, the BJP has won 8,239 seats while it is leading on 447 seats. The voting was held for a total of 63,299 gram panchayat seats in the state. According to the declared results, the CPI-M won 2,534 seats. Congress has won 2,158 seats and its candidates are leading in 151 other seats.
(With inputs from ANI)
