However, according to the opposition, his fight to appear on the ballot is far from over. They are claiming widespread pressure on their candidates to withdraw their nominations, while the state police is providing little security. The state government has gone to the Supreme Court against the High Court order for the deployment of central forces.
Union minister’s convoy on Saturday Nisith Pramanik He was allegedly attacked by TMC workers in Coochbehar district when he was going to the Block Development Office where scrutiny of nomination papers was underway. The minister claimed that he had gone there following reports of TMC workers “blocking the road to the BDO office and indulging in malpractices”.
According to the data released by the State Election Commission, 56,321 BJP For a total of 73,887 seats, where elections will be held in the three-tier panchayat system, candidates had filed their nominations by the end of the date on Thursday and 48,646 candidates of the CPI(M).
According to SEC officials, in 2018, only 29,528 BJP candidates and 22,981 CPI(M) candidates managed to file nominations. Hundreds of them later withdrew their nominations, resulting in the TMC winning 34% of the seats unopposed.
This number reached the previous high in the state since 2003, when 11% of panchayat seats were won unopposed under the CPI(M)-led Left Front government. In 2008, the proportion of seats uncontested in the last panchayat elections led by the Left was 5.47%. In 2013, in the first panchayat elections under the Mamata government, the TMC won 10% of the seats unopposed.
Opposition parties are now demanding that the SEC, which they accuse of favoritism, reduce the number of days allowed to withdraw nominations.
However, with the return period in line with previous years, the SEC is unlikely to do so. A senior SEC official said: “In 2013, the deadline for scrutiny was June 7, and the deadline for withdrawal was June 10. In the last panchayat elections (2018), the margin was higher, from April 11 to April 16. This time, it has actually become less than that, because it is between June 17 and June 20.”
There is a gap of two days between the last day of enrollment and the first day of withdrawal, which is normal.
Apart from the Cooch Behar incident involving Pramanik, a Left-backed independent from Chaltaberia panchayat area in Jaynagar was facing threats of alleged withdrawal from the TMC. The CPI(M) claimed that the candidate, Subrata Gayen, had not been able to return home after filing his nomination due to fear of the ruling party.
On Thursday night, some miscreants informed her mother about offering her a garland of flowers and a white saree (a symbol of a widow).
In Baruipur, the BJP claimed that its candidate was receiving threats from TMC district leaders, her husband was badly beaten up. The party has lodged a complaint at the Baruipur police station. Local TMC leaders have denied any hand in the incident.
In Nadia’s Chhapra, the CPI(M) claimed that the house of one of its candidates was vandalized by TMC workers. While the candidate is reportedly missing since then, five family members remain hospitalised. Local TMC leaders refused to comment on the incident.
There were also claims of intimidation by the ruling party in Bhagwantpur 1 and Krishnapur panchayat areas of Chandrakona 2 block in Paschim Medinipur, by the CPI(M) and the Indian Secular Force (ISF), who spoke of night visits by “citizen volunteers” Was.
BJP state president Sukant Majumdar said, ‘TMC plans to withdraw nominations of at least 20,000 BJP candidates. But, they will not get success. We will protest.
CPI (M) leader Sujan Chakraborty said, ‘Every person has the right to contest elections in a democratic system. Once an individual files a nomination, the Administration and the SEC must provide appropriate protections. But, in West Bengal, if a person has filed nomination, he and his family are left unprotected. That’s the most unfortunate part.”
As for the fact that they have managed to file twice as many nominations as compared to 2018, the BJP and the CPI(M) said the surge was a sign of TMC’s “decreasing popularity”.