Trinamool wins 12 percent seats in panchayat elections without registering a contest

Kolkata, June 24 (HS): The ruling Trinamool Congress has won 12 percent of the seats in West Bengal's panchayat elections amid heavy violence during nominations and allegations of not allowing the opposition to file nominations. This information has come to light after the process of withdrawing nominations is over.

Elections will not be held in 9013 of the 73,887 three-tier panchayat constituencies in the state. In other words, Trinamool has won these 12 percent of seats unopposed. The State Election Commission report states that polling will not be held in 8 out of 1,252 gramme panchayat constituencies in Alipurduar district, 664 out of 3,129 gramme panchayat seats in Bankura, and 106 out of 561 panchayat samiti seats.

In Birbhum, the Trinamool Congress has won 893 out of 2,859 gramme panchayat seats, 128 out of 490 panchayat samiti seats, and one out of 52 zilla parishad seats unopposed.

The opposition has not filed nominations for 157 out of 2,507 gramme panchayat seats, 17 out of 383 panchayat samiti seats, or one out of 34 zilla parishad seats in Cooch Behar district. Similarly, 11 out of 1308 Gramme Panchayat seats in Dakshin Dinajpur and 40 out of 598 Gramme Panchayat seats in Darjeeling and 9 out of 156 Panchayat Samiti seats have gone unopposed to Trinamool.

In Hooghly, 398 out of 3,880 gramme panchayat seats, 58 out of 619 gramme panchayat samitis, 717 out of 3,102 gramme panchayat seats in Howrah, 98 out of 470 gramme panchayat samitis, and 29 out of 1,701 gramme panchayat seats in Jalpaiguri have been won unopposed.

In Jhargram, 30 out of 1,007 gramme panchayat seats and 5 out of 210 panchayat samiti seats have not been nominated by any party other than Trinamool. Nominations have not been filed for 10 out of 281 gramme panchayat seats in Kalimpong and one out of 76 panchayat samitis. In Malda, 48 out of 3,186 gramme panchayat seats and four out of 436 panchayat samiti have been won unopposed. In Murshidabad, 166 out of 5,593 gramme panchayat seats and 12 out of 748 panchayat samitis have been won without competition. In Nadia, 63 out of 4,011 gramme panchayats and five out of 549 panchayat committees were unable to file nominations.

In North 24 Parganas, nominations have not been filed for 867 out of 4,535 gramme panchayat seats, 104 out of 593 panchayat samitis, and three out of 66 zilla parishads. In West Burdwan, 272 out of 1,020 gramme panchayat seats and 18 out of 172 panchayat samiti seats have been won unopposed. In Paschim Medinipur, 622 out of 3,881 gramme panchayat seats and 67 out of 631 panchayat samiti seats are unopposed. Apart from this, the opposition has withdrawn nominations in many seats in the state.

Hindusthan Samachar/Om Prakash/Mukund/Indrani Sarkar