West Bengal Panchayat Polls: Polling booth vandalised, ballot papers set on fire in Coochbehar

A polling booth in West Bengal’s Coochbehar was vandalised and ballot papers were set on fire as voting for Panchayat elections in the state began at 7 am on Saturday.

#WATCH | Polling booth at Baravita Primary School in Sitai, Coochbehar vandalised and ballot papers set on fire. Details awaited.

Voting for Panchayat elections in West Bengal began at 7 am today. pic.twitter.com/m8ws7rX5uG

— ANI (@ANI) July 8, 2023

In major areas, polling began amid tight security as about 5.67 crore people living in the state’s rural areas are eligible to vote, officials said.

A total of 2.06 lakh candidates are in the fray for elections to 73,887 seats in the three-tier panchayat system in the state, they said.

The election assumes significance for political parties as it will serve as an opportunity for them to assess their organisational strengths and weaknesses ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, besides broadly outlining the mood of the state after two years of the TMC government’s third consecutive term.

Sporadic incidents of violence were reported across the state after the election dates were announced on June 8, resulting in the deaths of over 15 people.

There are 63,229 gram panchayat seats and 9,730 panchayat samiti seats in 22 districts, while 928 zilla parishad seats in 20 districts as Darjeeling and Kalimpong have a two-tier system with Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) and Siliguri Sub-divisional Council at the top.

Long queues outside polling booths were seen as early as 6 am with people turning out early amid the intermittent rains.

The ruling TMC is contesting all the 928 seats in zilla parishads, 9,419 seats in panchayat samitis and 61,591 seats in gram panchayats. The BJP has fielded candidates in 897 zilla parishad seats, 7,032 panchayat samiti seats and 38,475 seats in gram panchayats.

The CPI(M) is fighting 747 zilla parishad seats, 6,752 panchayat samiti seats and 35,411 gram panchayat seats. The Congress is contesting 644 zilla parishad seats, 2,197 panchayat samiti seats and 11,774 gram panchayat seats.

At least 600 companies of central forces have been deployed for the elections along with around 70,000 state police.

In the last panchayat elections in 2018, TMC bagged around 34 per cent of the seats uncontested, and won 90 per cent of the rest, amid allegations of violence.

(With inputs from agencies)