Under intense pressure from the Bengal Opposition outfits to cancel the Saturday’s municipal election which was marred by massive violence the State Election Commission (SEC) on Sunday took a preliminary decision to postpone the counting process for an indefinite period, political parties including the State BJP leadership that met SEC Sushanata Ranjan Upadhyaya quoting him said.
The State Election Commissioner had reportedly told the delegations of BJP, left and other parties that counting would be postponed till he receives all the reports and all the electronic inputs were analysed thoroughly.
Major parties like BJP, left and the Congress were continuously protesting against what they alleged a “hidden companionship” between the SEC and the ruling Trinamool Congress.
Saturday’s municipal polls were an action replay of the April civic polls with the ruling party goons taking virtual control of all the booths driving away voters, firing and throwing bombs at some of them and brutally beating up at least 23 journalists — some of whom were admitted in the ICUs of various hospitals — when they tried to shoot the proceedings.
Elections were held for Bidhannagar-Rajarhat, Asansol and Bally corporations apart from the Siliguri sub-divisional board and some stray Panchayats. Barring Siliguri all the places witnessed massive violence with bike-borne outsiders carrying fire arms capturing zones after zones injuring whoever came their way in a grim reminder of violent elections that used to take place in the cow belt in the 1980s and 1990s.
Incidentally, the BJP and the left had a huge stake in the Saturday’s elections. Going by the 2014 general election records the saffron party had won 18 out of 25 Bidhannagar seats. It had also taken lead in two out of three Assembly segments that fell in Asansol Corporation where as the left had been in a good position in Bally, Rajarhat and had taken lead in one Assembly segment in Asansol.
While the left had called a dawn-to-dusk bandh in Bidhannagar-Rajarhat areas the Congress staged protest rallies outside the SEC demanding immediate resignation of Upadhyaya and burning the effigy of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee who they held responsible for the Saturday’s violence.