Bengal's Maoist heartland sees large turnout for panchayat polls

Kolkata: With helicopters hovering above, people turned out in large numbers in West Bengal’s Maoist heartland in the first phase of the staggered five-leg panchayat polls on Thursday.

The polling took place in the three districts of Bankura, Purulia and West Midnapore that form the belt - also called Junglemahal for its large forest tracts - where Maoists once held sway till the death of rebel field general Koteswar Rao alias Kishenji late 2011.

Officials described the polls as “more or less peaceful”, though opposition parties alleged “rampant” booth-capturing and violence by the ruling Trinamool Congress.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee expressed satisfaction over the “peaceful voting”.

A State Election Commission (SEC) official put the voter turnout at 65 percent in Bankura, 60 percent in Purulia and 65 percent in West Midnapore respectively till 5 pm, the scheduled time for voting to end.

However, with hundreds of people waiting in queues in many of the 10,203 seats in the three-tier panchayat bodies spread across the three districts, polling could continue till 10 p.m.

“The elections were more or less peaceful, though we received several complaints about violence and problems in voting,” the SEC official said.

He said re-polling might be ordered in four booths - three in Sabong (West Midnapore) and another in Saltora (Bankura).

There were no arrests, but one person, said to be a Congress activist, was critically injured when he took an arrow in his chest during violent clashes at Sabong in West Midnapore district.

The victim, Dipankar Ghosh, has been shifted to SSKM Hospital in Kolkata with the arrow still stuck in his chest.

Long queues were seen before the booths through the day.

Helicopters kept vigil from the skies, and 15,000 paramilitary troopers and 35,000 state police personnel including commandos and elite anti-insurgency force STRACO were on duty to maintain order and peace.

Altogether 25,749 candidates are in fray for 8,273 gram panchayat, 1,799 panchayat samiti and 151 zilla parishad seats in the three districts.

Left Front chairman Biman Bose said polling has been “one-sided” in several areas, and accused the Trinamool of attempts to rig the polls, particularly in West Midnapore.

The Congress alleged “rampant” booth capturing in West Midnapore and Bankura, as well as attacks on its workers and supporters.

Congress leader Abdul Mannan claimed at least 15 Congress supporters, including three women, were injured in attacks by “Trinamool-patronised goons”.

“In many booths, the central security forces were nowhere to be seen and the state police have been mere spectators. Despite the incidents, no arrests have been made so far. The state government has been defying the SEC’s recommendations intentionally, turning the polls into a farce,” added Mannan.

The ruling party later credited itself for “establishing democracy in the once dreaded Junglemahal”.

“It’s the credit of the state government that polling has been peaceful in Junglemahal where people were once afraid of even talking. We have been able to win back people’s faith in democracy which had eroded during the erstwhile regime,” Trinamool general secretary Mukul Roy said.

Already, 1,735 candidates have won uncontested, of whom 1,706 are from the Trinamool, in the three districts.

Altogether 4.4 crore eligible voters will elect 58,865 representatives from 1.77 lakh candidates from 17 districts in the three-tier panchayat bodies of the state - which is considered a model for the rural development system in the country - in the polls.

The next phases of polls are slated for July 15, 19, 22 and 25. Counting will take place July 29.

Politically, the polls which began after weeks of legal wrangling between the SEC and the state government,are significant because of the triangular fights between the Trinamool, the CPI-M-led Left Front and the Congress.

IANS