KOLKATA: Election-related violence in India’s West Bengal tragically claimed at least 10 lives over the weekend, disrupting ongoing elections in the state where Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party is aiming for a 2021 victory. After your defeat, you have to seize power.
About 700 voting booths were set to reopen on Monday after clashes between political rivals disrupted the rural governing council elections, according to Nilanjan Shandelia, a state election commission official.
Since elections were announced on June 8, sporadic violence has gripped the eastern Indian state. According to media reports, there have been incidents like shooting at each other by political rivals, throwing crude bombs at voters and obstructing access to voting booths.
Chandelia said the State Election Commission had received reports of 10 deaths during Saturday’s voting.
Media reports put the number higher. JEE News said at least 20 election-related deaths had occurred as of Monday. State police declined to comment on the deaths.
Political violence has long gripped the industrialized state of West Bengal, which was a communist stronghold for years until current chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress (TMC) party came to power in 2011.
The TMC currently has a majority in rural councils, known as panchayats, but faces a challenge from Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, which is trying to gain a foothold after losing state assembly elections in 2021.
TMC spokesperson Shantanu Sen said, “Political opponents had nothing to counter our development initiatives. That’s why they started violence against our party workers.”
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Dilip Ghosh said the state government has failed to maintain security. He said that the state administration has completely failed to stop violence and bloodshed.
