In an unprecedented development, Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress has bagged 34% seats in yet-to-be conducted Panchayat Polls.There were no opposition candidates for these seats by the time nominations closed on Saturday, which means a walkover for the Trinamool Congress.
There will be no polling in 20,076 seats of the total 58,692 seats in the forthcoming three-tier Panchayat polls in West Bengal because the ruling Trinamool Congress has won at about one-third seats uncontested.
Bengal Congress chief, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said, “Without the eggs hatching, chicken are born. This is a glaring example of the mockery of democracy, an eloquent testimony of the butchery of electoral rights of the common people,” he commented.
Most of the seats where the TMC has won uncontested are in districts of Birbhum, Bankura, Murshidabad and South 24 Parganas. After April 28 which was the last date for withdrawal of nominations, at places which are not going to polls, returning officers have already declared TMC candidates as winners and party supporters have begun celebrations. After the last date of withdrawal, SEC statistics show that of the total 825 Zilla Parishad seats, TMC has withdrawn 134, BJP 153, CPI(M) 79 and Congress 54. Others and independents have withdrawn 491 nominations.
The election body accepted the nomination of nine candidates on WhatsApp after they complained that they were not being allowed near the filing centre.The court ordered an additional day of nominations to help candidates who couldn’t submit their documents. But there was violence again on the new date, and one person was killed in Birbhum.
As an independent media platform, we do not take advertisements from governments and corporate houses. It is you, our readers, who have supported us on our journey to do honest and unbiased journalism. Please contribute, so that we can continue to do the same in future.
