Bengal Panchayat Polls: TMC Maintains Dominant Position In an Election Marred by Violence

Kolkata: The results of the panchayat polls show that the Trinamool Congress (TMC)’s dominant position in rural Bengal remains largely unchallenged in spite of an initial display of strength by the opposition parties.

The ruling party won around 35,000 gram panchayat seats in the elections, more than half of the total 63,229 seats. The BJP’s tally was near 10,000 seats, followed by the CPI(M)-Congress which together won around 6,500 seats.

The BJP, the main opposition party in the assembly, has suffered a setback and is unlikely to win any of the Zila Parishads. The Left and the Congress, which fought the election in an alliance, have fared marginally better compared to their complete washout in the 2021 assembly elections.

The TMC’s landslide victory in the rural body elections, seen as a litmus test for the 2024 Lok Sabha election, is expected to give a big confidence boost to the ruling party. 

Violence mars poll process

The election, conducted on July 8, has been marred with violence, allegations of rigging and judicial intervention from the announcement of the polling date to the filing of nominations and counting. Multiple cases have been filed by the opposition parties, alleging electoral malpractices and bias of the West Bengal State Election Commission (WBSEC).

The Calcutta high court on Wednesday, July 12, directed the WBSEC, the state government and the Union government to file affidavits addressing allegations of violence and malpractices by July 18. The court had on Monday raised concerns regarding the alleged mismanagement of the panchayat election by the WBSEC and questioned the poll panel about the reported incidents of violence during the elections.

What parties are saying

The TMC has termed the verdict as a victory for the rural people of Bengal. The party’s general secretary Abhishek Banerjee has thanked the people of West Bengal for their support and termed this as a validation for “Nabo Jowar”, the statewide rally he undertook prior to the election.  

The opposition leaders have questioned the results and alleged malpractices at the counting centre. There were multiple reports of malpractices, including incidents of swallowing of ballot papers, violence and intimidation of opposition counting agents by the ruling party cadres. 

Political analyst Bishwanath Chakraborty said the TMC government’s direct cash transfer incentives like Kanyashree and Lakshmi Bhanda helped it sweep the election. “However, we need to see if various financial scams have any impact on this vote. People in Kolkata, and adjacent districts like Howrah, Hooghly, North and South 24 Parganas were comparatively affected by these scams. But we cannot ascertain if that was reflected in the results as the polling process was mired with violence,” he said.

Across the TMC camp, there is a sign of relief and happiness. The ruling party was under pressure following the arrests of some top leaders and infighting. A few disgruntled workers who contested against the party have won. However, TMC MP Saugata Roy has rejected the possibility of allowing them to re-enter the party. 

It is quite evident that the TMC was able to win a significant section of the majority community’s votes. Indranath Ghosh, a resident of Uttarpara in Hooghly, said, “In the last election, many of us voted for the BJP. But there has been a huge disillusionment with the party. Its role in rising prices from gas to all medicines, GST, privatising every government institution and bringing religion and nationalism in every issue did not go well with a section of people.”

For the TMC, the result in Birbhum is a vindication of its organisational strength. The district head of the party, Anubrata Mondal, is currently lodged in Tihar jail on corruption charges. Sukdev Konda, a farmer, said, “The BJP won in our area last time. But they claimed that they could not do development work as the state government did not cooperate. Work was stalled in our area. So we voted for the ruling party to get the work done. If they control the panchayat, we will receive cash transfers from various schemes along with Lakshmi Bhandar [scheme, which gives financial support to women heads of families].”

For the BJP, the panchayat performance will put a question on the mission to win 35 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal in next year’s election. The BJP emerged as the main opposition in West Bengal in the last Lok Sabha and assembly elections and campaigned extensively across the state.

This time around, in the strongholds of several top leaders, the party performed poorly. Dakshin Dinajpur, the home district of BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar, the TMC won 54 out of 64 gram panchayats. The former state chief and MP Dilip Ghosh hails from the rural Kharagpur belt in Paschim Medinipur. The BJP did exceedingly well there in the past few elections, but was completely washed out this time.

Similar trends have been seen in the Banarhat area, where ​​Union minister John Barla hails from, and the Raiganj area of former Union minister Debasree Chaudhuri. Union minister of state for home Nishith Pramanik, in spite of a spirited campaign, also saw his party perform poorly in his home district of Cooch Behar.

The leader of the opposition in the assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, held on to his stronghold Nandigram but the TMC won the Zila Parishad. BJP leaders are blaming the Congress-Left alliance for splitting opposition votes but they also admit the need for introspection.

The Left and the Congress were hoping for a resurgence after the humiliation in the 2021 assembly elections. While their vote share and number of winning seats have increased marginally, they were still far behind the BJP. The silver lining for the Congress is its performance in Malda and Murshidabad. 

Dr Ramchandra Dome, a member of the CPI(M) politburo, said, “We got only 7% votes in the last two elections. Our vote share has significantly increased. The same is true for our ally Congress. With the BJP’s vote share dipping, it is clear that a section of people who thought the BJP was an alternative to the TMC have now returned to us. However, the polarisation among a section of tribals and Scheduled Castes is clearly visible, which is dangerous.”

TMC performs well in North Bengal and Jungle Mahal

The TMC was able to do well in the tribal areas of North Bengal and Jungle Mahal. Despite vote boycotts and protests, a section of Kurmi votes in Jungle Mahal went to the TMC. In Dooars, the reopening of closed tea gardens and the Cha Sundari housing project clearly influenced the tea workers, which explained the ruling party’s performance in Alipurduar.

In the Rajbanshi-dominated area of North Bengal, Kamtapuri leader Banshivadan Barman’s direct support to the TMC caused the BJP major damage. Even after announcing the nomination for another Rajbanshi leader, Anant Maharaj, the BJP could not retain the community’s support. 

For the North Bengal development minister Udayan Guha, a key architect of the TMC’s success in the region, the challenge was to check the BJP’s rise. He claimed that BJP leaders entered strong rooms at midnight and brought “paid mercenaries from Assam” to attack people. Such tactics, he said, saw the people reject the saffron party. 

Meanwhile, Suvendu Adhikari claimed that the minority vote is moving away from the TMC. “The result makes it clear that the minority vote bank of Trinamool has broken!” he said.

One of the bloodiest elections

The panchayat poll has been one of the bloodiest ones, with clashes between the political parties causing the loss of at least 40 lives. The state election commission and the administration came under criticism for failing to stop malpractices. In Bali, Howrah, many ballots with the CPI(M) stamp were seen floating in sewage lines. Opposition agents were allegedly beaten and threatened by the TMC workers with the help of police at counting centres. A candidate named Habib Ali was beaten unconscious inside the counting centre in Sankrail, Howrah. Many opposition candidates and counting agents made complaints of harassment, intimidation and violence. There were reports of senior ministers, MLAs and leaders being present at counting centres. 

The state Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said, “The TMC was not sure of winning even after rigging, so they looted votes at the counting centre.”

Indian Secular Front MLA Naushad Siddiqui said, “Despite extreme terror, we have been able to achieve some success. However, the WBSEC acted with bias.”

A winning independent candidate from Samserganj in Murshidabad told The Wire over the phone that he is going into hiding with his family as a measure of self-protection until the board is formed. He is planning to return only when the situation returns to normal. That sense of fear among opposition supporters sums up the politics in West Bengal.