TMC Wins 34% of West Bengal Panchayat Seats Uncontested

The party has reportedly won over 20,000 seats of the 58,592 seats that will go into polls in May.

Trinamool Congress chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

(Photo: Reuters)

In what is touted to be a ‘historical’ win, the ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal has won over 34% of the state’s panchayat seats uncontested. The party has reportedly won over 20,000 seats of the 58,592 seats that are scheduled to go to polls later in May.

According to an NDTV report, this is the highest number to go uncontested in the state’s history. In 2013, TMC won 10 percent of the seats uncontested, and in 2003, the Left had won 11 percent of the Panchayat seats in a similar manner, reported the news channel. TMC’s new number is over thrice the earlier record.

The three-tier panchayat bodies are scheduled to go for polls on 14 May, and the results will be announced on 17 May. The last date for filing the nominations was Saturday, 28 April.

The date was extended by a day owing to the violence that the state had witnessed, with the opposition parties alleging intimidation and ‘terror’ on part of the ruling party.

The opposition parties had moved court, alleging that their candidates were unable to file nominations, after which the court had extended the deadline by a day. However, according to NDTV, a person was killed on the new date in Birbhum, a district that had already witnessed violence over the panchayat polls.

Incidentally, Birbhum is one of the places where most seats have gone uncontested, in favour of the TMC.

Meanwhile, speaking on the issue, Bengal Congress Chief Adhir Ranjan told NDTV:

Without the eggs hatching, chicken are born. This is a glaring example of the mockery of democracy, an eloquent testimony of the butchery of electoral rights of the common people.

Meanwhile, the news channel also reported that opposition parties have approached the High Court with respect to the Election Commission’s decision to hold the polls in one day, as opposed to the three-day schedule they had announced earlier.