West Bengal is all set for the Panchayat elections which is scheduled to take place on 8th of July and the results will be announced on 11th July. The West Bengal election commission has announced the polling time which will be 7 am to 5pm. The entire election will be held in single phase all across the state. It is estimated that that the State Election Commission has received a total number 2,36,464 nominations for this Panchayat election. The ruling party Trinamool Congress has fielded the highest number of nominations which is 85,817. While BJP has fielded 56,321 and 48,646 has been fielded by CPI(M).
The state is very much ready with posters, slogans, rallies, dramas and guns. When it comes to West Bengal the Panchayat election is never a smooth and peaceful event. As soon as notice related to poll was issued the violence stated and till now unfortunately 15 people have lost their lives. Even High Court have warned West Bengal government and asked to stop election if there is so much bloodshed.
5 people were reportedly injured in clash in Cooch Bihar district recently. West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose visited hospital to see the injured people. Governor is on visit, he is reviewing the law and order situations of several districts of North Bengal. Raj Bhawan has opened a ‘peace home’ and a 24*7 helpline number to address the complaints regarding the violence took place during the
Panchayat elections.
Darjeeling and Kalimpong also fielded nominations as after huge gap of 23 years the hill district of
West Bengal is again going to witness the panchayat elections. A grand alliance of 8 parties have been formed in hills to contest against the ruling party. The grand alliance named as United Gorkha Manch consists of Bhartiya Janta Party(BJP),Gorkha Janmukti Morcha(GJM), Gorkha National Liberation Front, Communist Party of Revolutionary Marxist, Hamro Party, Akhil Bhartiya Gorkha League, Sumeti Mukti Morcha and Gorkhaland Rajya Nirman Party. This alliance will not be there for the upcoming Lok Sabha Elections 2024, it’s only formed for the sake of Panchayat Elections.
The party supremo herself is campaigning for her party after 12 years. In the meantime it has raised many eyebrows. On CM’s campaign the opposition party’s state unit chief Sukanta Majumdar said, “shows how strong the BJP has become.” Further he added, “these people (TMC) were saying after May 2021 during assembly elections that the BJP has gone. But today a leader like Mamata Banerjee has return to te ground after 12 years for Panchayat elections, this shows how strong BJP has become.” In reply to this TMC’s MP Saugata Roy stated that party has decided to choose her for the campaign and this decision has nothing to do with Bjp’s strength in West Bengal.
