At least three persons each from BJP, Trinamool and the CPI(M) died on Sunday in pre-poll skirmishes in Bengal even as the State prepared for yet another violent three-tier panchayat elections on Monday. Pre-poll violence has already claimed about 20 lives in the past one month.
Unlike in 2013 when the elections were conducted in five phases with the help of central forces this time elections will be manned by the State police.
With BJP coming up as a strong contender for the primary Opposition’s place displacing the left Front and the Trinamool Congress concentrating on retaining all the boards with it the rural elections are expected to see massive violence on Monday.
A massive police bandobast was made and the security forces were conducting route march in the interior regions, ADG law and Order said. Sources in the Home Ministry also said that the State had requisitioned armed forces from Sikkim, Andhra Pradesh and Telengana.
More than 82,000 police personnel including 46,000 armed police men will man the elections this time round.
According to the State Election Commission the rural elections will be held for 621 zilla parishad, 6157 panchayat samitis and 31,827 gram panchayats spread across 20 districts. The polling will take place between at 7 am and 5 pm.
This year’s election stands out on account of about 34 percent seats being won by the ruling party amid complaints of massive pre-poll violence leading the Supreme Court to withhold the result of the said seats.
While the State saw about 26,000 uncontested victories in 35 years since panchayat poll started in 1978 — till 2013 when the Trinamool alone won little more than 6,000 uncontested seats — in 2018 alone it saw about 23,000 seats won uncontested by the ruling outfit.