Even though four more people have been reported killed, bringing the total number of deaths from political violence since June 8, when the three-tier local body elections were announced, voting for West Bengal panchayat elections was resumed anew on Monday in 696 booths that had been disrupted on June 8.
According to the state election commission’s report to the Calcutta high Court, voting went smoothly in all 696 booths under the protection of federal and state military troops. On Tuesday, the votes will be tallied.
Among the four fatalities, the corpse of a purported Bhartiya Janata Party employee was discovered in the Nadia district’s Dhubulia. Three people who were hurt during the violence on July 8’s election day—two allegedly Trinamool Congress party members from Murshidabad and a reported Communist Party of India (Marxist) member from Nadia—died in hospitals as a result of their wounds.
On Saturday, scores of people were wounded and at least 18 people were dead amid widespread claims of election manipulation, booth capture, ballot box looting, voter intimidation, gunfire, and bomb assaults. There were 18 fatalities on election day alone, six more than the 12 fatalities from violence on election day in 2018.
The state’s opposition, headed by the BJP, the Congress, and the Left, had called for a new election, claiming that there was no conducive environment for free and fair voting there. Eighty percent of the booths had no central forces. There was extensive booth looting. Only 696 booths are participating in the re-poll. Just eyewash, I say. Even during the re-election, there have been reports of violence, according to Congressman Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury.
Murshidabad district has the most booths where re-voting took place—175—followed by Malda, where 109 booths hosted re-voting. Additionally, 89 booths in Nadia, 53 in Cooch Behar, 46 in North 24 Parganas, 42 in North Dinajpur, 36 in South 24 Parganas, and 31 in East Midnapore had their votes re-counted.
Chowdhury filed a petition with the Calcutta High Court on Monday, requesting restitution for those who had been murdered or wounded in incidents of election-related violence as well as an investigation into the events of Saturday that would be carried out by an impartial body and overseen by the court.
The wounded must get the finest care possible at government hospitals, according to a division bench chaired by Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam, who also requested that the state government provide details of the police complaints and autopsy results.
Suvendu Adhikari, a BJP politician, resumed his rant against the state election commission and the TMC, which is now in power, on Monday. “The procession of deaths seems to go on forever. In Nadia, a BJP member was slain. 50% of the 61,000 booths were looted. A list of 6,000 booths where a new poll should be conducted was sent by us. They only requested a re-poll in 696 booths. None of the booths that we had indicated were on the list for the second round of voting, Adhikari claimed.
“Only a few booths saw undesirable situations. The voting process was fairly calm. The opposition instigated the violence, fully anticipating the public’s rejection of them. Re-polls have been ordered wherever there have been issues, according to TMC spokesman Kunal Ghosh.
The BJP has said that it would send a team of four people, headed by former government minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, to party chief JP Nadda with a report.