I/II. http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/violence-mars-west-bengal-municipal-elections/article18451094.ece
Violence mars municipal elections in West Bengal STAFF REPORTER KOLKATA, MAY 14, 2017 13:45 IST Voters stand in a queue to cast their votes at a polling station during Municipal elections at Domcol in Murshidabad district of West Bengal on Sunday. | Photo Credit: PTI Congress did not make it clear whether they will demand complete re-poll in these three municipalities. Several incidents of violence reported on Sunday as voting took place in seven municipalities in five districts of West Bengal. Not only bombs were hurled near polling booths but electronic voting machines (EVMs) were also damaged in some areas allegedly by Trinamool Congress (TMC) cadres. Violence was reported mainly from Raiganj Municipality in North Dinajpur district, Domkal in Murshidabad district and Pujali in South 24 Parganas district. Raiganj and Domkal are located in plains of North Bengal, while Pujali is in the South. So far there are no reports of major violence in the four municipalities in the hills of North Bengal - Darjeeling, Kurseong and Mirik — in Darjeeling district and Kalimpong district. Speaking to The Hindu State Congress general secretary Om Prakash Mishra said that the “the way election is being conducted in the Domkal, Pujali and Raiganj manipulators is illegal and unconstitutional." “This is a blatant attack on democracy,” he said. He, however, did not make it clear whether the Congress will demand complete re-poll in these three municipalities. “We are discussing the issue,” Mr Mishra said. Soon after the polling started in the newly formed Domkal municipality in Murshidabad, armed TMC cadres allegedly began to hurl bombs in the Mamudpur and Dakshin Nagar area to drive away the voters. The Opposition alleged that they TMC's intention was to scare away the voters. Accusing the ruling party of driving away the polling agents of the Left-Congress alliance in one of the wards in Domkal, the united Opposition staged road blockade in the area. Clashes between the ruling and opposition party cadres were reported inside a polling booth in Murshidabad’s Raghunathpur. In the Sekhalipara area of Domkal municipality the agents of the TMC and Independent candidate came to blows. A voter was also assaulted by TMC cadres while standing in queue outside a polling booth in Domkal. He was later hospitalised. In Raiganj municipality the opposition parties accused TMC of resorting to false voting and the TMC cadres clashed with the workers of the Left Front and Congress supporters. In another incident in Raiganj local Congress leadership accused the TMC cadres of hurling bombs in near a polling booth to drive away the voters. As for the Pujali municipality the opposition parties alleged that TMC-backed miscreants fired several rounds near a polling booth causing the poll workers to run away. In one of the pooling booths in Poojali voting was disrupted for sometime as EVM was damaged by miscreants. A leader of TMC Soumik Hossain has said that the Opposition “has failed to garner any support” and thus “concocting allegations.” II. https://scroll.in/article/837629/the-daily-fix-violence-in-bengal-civic-polls-betrays-a-new-panic-in-the-trinamool-congress Violence in Bengal civic polls betrays a new panic in the Trinamool Congress an hour ago. Ipsita Chakravart Battleground Bengal On Sunday, violence returned to West Bengal. As citizens voted in civic polls, party workers roamed about brandishing firearms, hurling petrol bombs, damaging electronic voting machines, beating up voters and heckling journalists. In a number of booths, Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party candidates withdrew. The state election commission chief reportedly remained unreachable, deaf to frantic appeals made by Opposition parties in the state. Presumably, the violence was not the monopoly of only one party. But the ruling dispensation, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her Trinamool Congress, has a lot to answer for. The Trinamool’s election conduct has always left much to be desired. Ever since the party came to power in 2011, unseating the 34-year-old Left Front government, Bengal has slowly returned to the kind of poll violence and intimidation that was fading. The Assembly elections of 2016 left at least one person dead, and the ear of a Left Front party worker was sliced off. Before that, in 2013, a nervous Trinamool had gone into panchayat elections just after the Sarada chit fund scam broke, implicating several party leaders. The party swept the polls, but not without violence that killed at least 10, left policemen injured and houses damaged. In about 11% of the seats, the party won unopposed. In many places, Opposition candidates were forced to go underground after filing their nominations. This habit of brute force could be underpinned by a new panic. Over the last few years, the BJP party has been gaining ground in the state, adding to its vote share and promising to unseat the Left as the chief opposition. While the Assembly election results showed it was still a long way off, the saffron party has taken keen interest in the state, with BJP president Amit Shah declaring their new slogan was “Ebar Bangla”, This time Bengal. The BJP’s rising graph in the state has been accompanied by simmering communal tensions and ugly spats with the Trinamool. But the ruling party in the state is challenged from the left as well as the right. A few months ago, protests against a power plant in Bhangar gave rise to scenes that were reminiscent of the famous confrontations at Singur and Nandigram. Interestingly, Banerjee had been at the forefront of protests against land acquisition by the ruling dispensation then. The Trinamool’s formidable support bank is still far from crumbling. But if the party is to maintain credibility, both in its home turf and at the national level, it must ensure that elections are conducted peacefully and opposition workers are allowed to function freely. -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
