India: Bullets defeat ballots? 14 killed in West Bengal on local elections day

Reports of massive political violence have emerged from India’s eastern state of West Bengal, where crucial local elections are taking place ahead of the general election slated to be held next year. Zee News reported at least 14people dead as rural West Bengal voted for thethree-tier panchayat elections. Among the dead were six workers of the ruling Trinamool Congress, one worker each of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Left, Congress and ISF, and another person whose political identity could not be known. Although, the BJP claimed that the death toll had reached 15, but there was no such confirmation from the state authorities till the filing of this report.

The state has been reeling under political violence since the elections were announced on June 8.

Ruling and opposition parties trade barbs

Add WION as a Preferred Source

West Bengal, which is ruled by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of Trinamool Congress (TMC), has had a long history of political violence taking place during election season. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which sits in opposition in the state, has long accused the TMC of harbouring political ‘goons’.

As reports of violence surfaced in the state on Saturday, BJP state chief Sukanta Majumdar accused a TMC candidate of murdering an independent Muslim candidate.

Majumdar tweeted, “Bloodshed in West Bengal in Panchayat Election. TMC candidate killed an independent Muslim candidate in North 24, Parganas dist. TMC knows only language of violence, murder and booth capturing. CM @MamataOfficial along with @CEOWestBengal is responsible for these murders."

BJP West Bengal leader Suvendu Adhikari said that what was happening in the state was not an election but "death."

Meanwhile, state minister Shashi Panja blamed the violence on the ‘incompetence’ of central forces, which are deployed by the union government, currently led by BJP, to maintain law and order, especially during elections.

Watch:India received $50 billion in new investment in 2022 - Third highest in the world

Panja said, “TMC workers have been murdered, two have been shot at. Those who were asking for deployment, saying that these central forces are the guardians of peace — the guardians have failed, faltered to protect the rights of citizens."

‘Ballots, not bullets’

State Governor CV Ananda Bose also condemned the violence, saying that an election day should be considered “most sacred for democracy” and that elections should take place through ballots and not bullets.

"I have been in the field right from the morning...People requested me and stopped my motorcade on the way. They told me about the murders happening around them, told me about the goons not allowing them to go to the polling booths...It should cause concern to all of us. This is the most sacred day for democracy...The election must be through ballots and not bullets," he was quoted as saying by local media.

While political violence in the world’s largest democracy has reduced over the past two decades, it still remains rampant in West Bengal. In previous local polls held in 2018, TMC won uncontested 34 per cent of the total seats after a series of deadly political violence against opponents.

WATCH WION LIVE HERE