July 09, 2023

Panchayat election in West Bengal 2023 date and time

At least eleven people were killed in West Bengal panchayat election violence since midnight, officials said. Voting is underway across 73,887 seats in the state, which began at 7 AM. Among those killed were five TMC members, and one worker each of the BJP, CPI(M), and Congress, and the supporter of an Independent candidate. Besides violent clashes that injured several people, ballot boxes were destroyed in at least two polling booths. About 5.67 crore people living in the state’s rural areas are eligible to vote. At least 600 companies of central forces have been deployed for the elections along with around 70,000 state police.

There are 63,229-gram panchayat seats and 9,730 panchayat samiti seats in 22 districts, while 928 zilla parishad seats in 20 districts as Darjeeling and Kalimpong have a two-tier system with Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) and Siliguri Sub-divisional Council at the top. Long queues outside polling booths were seen as early as 6 AM with people turning out early amid the intermittent rains.

Panchayat election in West Bengal 2023 date

Cutting across ideological lines, all parties in West Bengal condemned the killing of nine people in various parts of the state as voting for the panchayat elections is underway.

The opposition BJP and CPI(M) alleged that the State Election Commission (SEC) did not deploy the central forces as per the orders of the Calcutta High Court.

The ruling TMC, which lost five of its supporters to poll violence, questioned the absence of central forces that have been brought in for the elections.

 

12 people died in incidents of violence during polling

Panchayat elections were held in West Bengal on Saturday amid heavy violence. During this, incidents of violence were reported from across the state, in which 12 people died. At the same time, ballot boxes were vandalized and bombs were hurled at rivals in several villages. Earlier in the year 2003 Panchayat elections, more than 40 people were killed on the day of polling. Twelve people, including eight workers of the ruling TMC and one each of the BJP, CPM, and Congress, were killed in the violence that broke out since midnight in the three-tier panchayat polls, officials said on Saturday.

Bengal Governor CV Anand Bose has condemned the incidents of violence across the state during the panchayat elections. He said that the situation is very worrying. Bose visited various places in the North and South 24 Parganas districts during the polling. He said that 'Peace Home' will continue to be organized at Raj Bhavan to redress the grievances of the common people.

 

West Bengal panchayat election news today

West Bengal's panchayat election was marred by violence on Saturday, resulting in the unfortunate loss of at least 16 lives across seven districts. The district of Murshidabad witnessed the highest number of casualties, with five reported deaths, followed by North Dinajpur with four and Coochbehar with three. Additionally, fatalities occurred in Malda, South 24 Parganas, Nadia, and East Burdwan. Among those who lost their lives, nine were affiliated with the Trinamool Congress party.

West Bengal Panchayat Polls 2023 Live: Violence rocked West Bengal's rural polls as voting ended on Saturday leaving 16 people dead, ballot boxes vandalised and bombs thrown at rivals in a number of villages. Saturday's events were in keeping with the state's history of violent elections, including the 2003 panchayat polls which gained notoriety for its death toll of 76 during the course of the election process, with more than 40 killed on the day of the elections. With 30 dead since polls were announced earlier last month, this year's bloodied election also closely followed the 2018 panchayat poll violence pattern a similar number of people were left dead. The polling began at 7 am in 73,887 seats in the rural areas of the state with 5.67 crore people deciding the fate of around 2.06 lakh candidates. Till 5 pm, 66.28 percent voter turnout was recorded, officials said. State Election Commissioner (SEC) Rajiva Sinha on Saturday promised to look into complaints of vote tampering and to take a decision on possible re-polling after receiving reports from observers and returning officers. Sinha said the most number of complaints on incidents of violence during the day's polling came from four districts, and they would all be taken into account while reviewing the poll process. The SEC, who had to face a lot of flak from various political parties, said that a decision on re-polling would be taken on Sunday when observers and returning officers would scrutinize and review the polling process.