Bengal Panchayat Polls — 'Guv Has No Role': TMC Says State Poll Body Should Look Into Violence

TMC MP Saugata Roy has said that Governor has no role as far as violence in the state relating to Panchayat polls is concerned once the dates are announced.

The state of West Bengal is witnessing a massive blame game over the violence taking place here ahead of the July 8 Panchayat polls. Both TMC and BJP are trading barbs over the killing of workers in Bengal and now Governor CV Ananda Bose has also come into the picture. TMC MP Saugata Roy has said that the Governor has no role to play once the polls have been announced. Roy said that it is the responsibility of the State Election Commission to look into cases of election-related violence. 

Talking to news agency ANI, the TMC MP said that three of his party workers have also been killed in the arson and violence in the state. He said that law and order is under the State government and the Governor has no role in it. 

"3 people from TMC have been killed...Law& order is under state govt, it's not Governor's work. It's the work of the State Election Commissioner to look after the poll violence. Governor has no role to play after polls are announced," he told ANI. 

On Saturday, an official stated that hours after West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose called State Election Commissioner (SEC) Rajiva Sinha to Raj Bhawan, the senior officer indicated he would be unable to see him owing to his involvement in panchayat polls. Sinha asked Bose to exclude him from appearing throughout the day and schedule him for "any other day," the official added, news agency PTI reported. 

Speaking with PTI, the official stated: "Sinha is not skipping. He sought an exemption for today. He has requested the Governor to give him time any other day." 

Bose invited Sinha to Raj Bhavan at 2 p.m. on Saturday to brief him on the unrest in the state that claimed four lives and the actions taken by the state administration to calm the situation. 

Following a visit to Bhangore on Friday, the Governor stated that measures must be done to halt political violence and promised that "perpetrators would be permanently silenced" and "brought to book." Bose stated that violence will not be condoned after speaking with local people and top police officials. 

More than 5 crore people are eligible to vote in the state's three-tier panchayat elections, which will choose about 74,000 candidates for zilla parishads, panchayat samitis, and gramme panchayats. 

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