Panchayat Polls: Violence, Stopping Oppn from Filing Papers – Why Bengal Has a History of Uncontested Seats – News18

In a small room at the Trinamool Congress (TMC) block office in Kotulpur in Bankura district, a group of 10 to 12 workers and leaders led by Sadiq Ali Khan, president of TMC block committee, is busy strategising for the polling day and making some calculations for the newly formed panchayats. Two weeks ahead of the polling day, the ruling TMC has already won in all eight gram panchayats, when the nomination and withdrawal process just got over.

Around 150 km away from Bhangar in South 24 Parganas district that saw unabated pre-poll violence claiming lives of at least three persons and injuring scores over the past weeks, here is Kotulpur in Bankura district, which has a different story to tell.

Kotulpur block has eight gram panchayats, which include 178 Panchayat seats and 24 Panchayat Samiti seats.

Panchayat and Panchayat Samiti are the first two tiers of India’s three-tier Panchayati Raj system. In all the seats — both Panchayat and Panchayat Samiti — TMC has won uncontested, and not for the first time.

In 2018, the party won across all eight panchayats in the block uncontested. In 2023, history repeated itself.

The party will now face a contest in three Zila Parishad seats in Kotulpul block. A Zila Parishad seat is considered the top layer of the Panchayat system. In these three seats, CPM has fielded candidates in two, while BJP has managed to contest in one. Sadiq Ali Khan and his team were strategising for the polling day in the area, so that the party can win in all three Zila Parishad seats too.

Meanwhile, the BJP offices in the locality were all shut. Located in western part of the state, Bankura was known as a Left bastion, however, after the assembly election in 2016, the vote shares of the Left parties started reducing rapidly making a way for the BJP to enter the region. In 2019, the BJP won the Lok Sabha seats, and the local assembly seat too in 2021. Despite having an MP and the MLA from the area, the BJP failed in submitting a nomination in the block.

Kotulpur in Bankura is one of many such blocks across districts in Bengal, where TMC has already won uncontested. In 2018, TMC won around 34% Panchayat seats uncontested. This year, the number of uncontested seats has halved though. Around 10% seats are uncontested, said the report by the state election commission.

Saga of ‘Uncontested’ Panchayat Seats

Apart from Kotulpur, the Opposition could not contest in Falta (South 24 Pargana), Indus (Bankura) and many more. In Indus, of 177 gram panchayat seats, Trinamool won all 161. There will be a contest for 16 seats in which CPM has fielded candidates in 14, while BJP will contest in two. BJP failed in submitting nominations in Panchayat Samiti seats.

Khan, TMC’s Kotulpur block president, told News18, “BJP does not have anyone who will want to contest. They looked for candidates, but none came forward. So, we won uncontested. Now, they are playing the victim card.”

A senior leader of TMC’s state committee echoed Khan’s views. “In 2018, around 34% seats were uncontested. The Opposition parties did not get a candidate. This is not Trinamool’s fault. We will not fight elections for them.”

In 2018, thousands of panchayat seats remained uncontested in Birbhum, Burdwan and Bankura districts. However, this year, hundreds of seats are left uncontested in South 24 Parganas, North 24 Parganas, Nadia, Bankura, Hooghly and so on.

Amit Malviya, BJP’s co-in charge of Bengal, said the police and administration helped the ruling party to block the candidature of many BJP workers. “Our workers are still fighting and we are getting a huge response from people,” he added.

The number of candidates in gram panchayat seats is 63,229 — the highest among the three tiers of which TMC is contesting in 61,591 seats, followed by the BJP with 38,475 candidates and the CPM with 35,411 nominees. Congress is contesting only 11,774 gram panchayat seats. This year, more than 9.5% seats have already been won uncontested.

Samir Das, professor of political science in Calcutta University, explained the reason for having a huge number of uncontested seats in the state. “Resorting to violence and not allowing Opposition parties to file nominations show how the leaders of the ruling party lost faith in their voters. They want to control the political instruments at the grass root level and the panchayats are the foundation for all bigger elections.”

In 2018, following a series of violent clashes, the Calcutta High Court directed the state election commission to treat nomination papers sent by nine candidates to the Block Development Officer via WhatsApp as valid.

The Panchayat elections will be held in West Bengal in a single phase on July 8, and counting of votes will take place on July 11.