Bengal Panchayat Election: Kurmi Organisations To Field Candidates Amid Demand For ST Status
Organisations of the Kurmi community, who have been protesting for the Scheduled Tribe status, said they would field candidates in the districts in the Jangalmahal region.
Organisations of the Kurmi community, who have been protesting for the Scheduled Tribe status, announced on Friday that they would field candidates in the panchayat elections in West Bengal. The three-tier panchayat polls in West Bengal will be held on July 8.
Ghagar Ghera Central Committee, the umbrella body of the Kurmi organisations, said it would field candidates primarily in the districts in the Jangalmahal region, PTI reported.
"We have decided to fight the elections in protest against the arrest of our leaders and bolster our demand for the ST status," PTI quoted the committee leader Ashok Mahato as saying.
The Kurmi community is classified as OBC at present.
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The tension between the Kurmi community and the state government has been rising for some time.
In April, several organisations belonging to the Kurmi community observed protests and blocked railway tracks and roads demanding the inclusion of the community in the Scheduled Tribe (ST) list.
The protests were mainly centred around the districts in the Jangalmahal region -- Purulia, Bankura, Jhargram and Paschim Medinipur.
Last month, there was an attack on the convoy of Trinamool Congress's national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee allegedly by the Kurmi community.
The vehicle of West Bengal minister Birbaha Hansda, which was part of the convoy, was vandalised in that attack. Kurmi leaders, however, claimed that their people were not involved in it.
A total of 11 persons, including three top Kurmi leaders, have been arrested by the police so far in the case, IANS reported.
On Thursday, State Election Commissioner (SEC) Rajiva Sinha announced that the panchayat polls would be held in a single phase on July 8 and votes would be counted on July 11.
However, opposition parties protested against the SEC's decision on setting the deadline for filing nominations for June 15.
The matter reached the Calcutta High Court on Friday. The HC directed the State Election Commission to file its response on June 12 while observing that the time given for filing nominations was prima facie inadequate.
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