Trinamool sweeps violence-hit West Bengal rural polls

The Trinamool Congress (TMC) swept the West Bengal panchayat elections, winning a majority in all three tiers of the rural local government of India.

According to NDTV, the TMC won 2,552 out of 3,317 gram panchayats, 232 panchayat samitis, and 12 out of 20 zilla parishads.

The BJP was a distant second, winning only 212 gram panchayats, 7 panchayat samitis, and no zilla parishads.

Some results are still awaited.

A Facebook post from the state's Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee reads, "It's TMC all the way in rural Bengal. I want to thank the people for their love, affection and support towards the TMC. This election has proved that only TMC resides in the heart of the people of the state."

Vote counting for the panchayat elections began Tuesday morning. Over 74,000 seats are up for grabs, including 63,229 gram panchayat seats, 9,730 panchayat samiti seats, and 928 zilla parishad seats.

The polls, billed as a test of popularity for Trinamool supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, saw rampant violence on Saturday. The repolling on Monday was again marred by violence in several booths.

Around 40 people have died due to poll-related violence since Saturday.

Repolling was held in 696 booths amid allegations of electoral fraud, booth capturing, and multiple reports of electoral irregularities and voter suppression during the polling.

Violence erupted in Bhangar, South 24 Parganas, last night, with reports of bullets being fired. One death is feared, and a police officer has also been injured.

Explosives were detonated near a counting center in Murshidabad yesterday morning while the police had to use batons to disperse a crowd in Howrah.

Opposition BJP has accused the Trinamool of making "desperate attempts to loot votes" by preventing opposition observers from entering counting centres.

Meanwhile, the Trinamool has claimed that 60 per cent of the people killed in poll violence were either their workers or supporters.

/KN/