Bengal Panchayat Polls: 45 Dead In Violence, Mamata Shamelessly Murdering Democracy, Says BJP

Bengal Panchayat Election Results 2023: Blaming the TMC directly for the murders, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra claimed around 45 people have died so far.

A member of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha being detained at a protest against the alleged violence during Bengal panchayat polls

Source : PTI

Tearing into the ruling Trinamool Congress over violence during the Bengal panchayat election, BJP on Tuesday said Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has been shamelessly murdering democracy in the state. Blaming the TMC directly for the murders, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said elections and violence have become synonymous with each other in Bengal.

Early trends showed the Trinamool Congress leading by a huge margin in all the three-tier panchayat polls -- Gram Panchayat, Panchayat Samiti, and Zilla Parishad. The TMC won 90 per cent of panchayat seats and all 22 zilla parishads in the 2018 rural elections.

Addressing a press conference, Patra said, "The administration is involved in the murders that have taken place in Bengal. Since the beginning of the nomination process of the panchayat elections in the state up to the present time, around 45 people have died. This is extremely unfortunate."

Since the polls were announced on June 8, there has been extensive violence in various sections of the state, resulting in the deaths of over 30 people.

On polling day, 15 people died and there were reports of ballot boxes being vandalised, ballot papers torched, and bombs thrown at rivals in several places. Of those deceased people, 11 were affiliated with the TMC.

Sambit Patra also questioned the silence of Opposition leaders like Lalu Prasad Yadav, Nitish Kumar and Rahul Gandhi over the violence in Bengal.

"Why don't Lalu Prasad Yadav, Nitish Kumar and Rahul Gandhi speak on the Bengal situation? Rahul Gandhi's 'Mohabbat ki Dukan' is not being seen in Bengal," the BJP leader further said.

"The kind of violence that is taking place on the same land from which the words 'Vande Mataram' once originated is unprecedented in itself. We have neither heard nor seen such violence before. Elections and violence have become synonymous in Bengal today," Patra said.