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The ruling Trinamool Congress has been able to field candidates in a maximum number of seats for the three-tier panchayat elections to be held in West Bengal on July 8. Out of a total of 2,36,464 nominations for close to 74,000 seats, the party had filed the highest number of nominations followed by the BJP in second position.
The days leading to the elections next month have been marred by violence and arson during the filing of nominations, with three shot dead in clashes on the concluding day. While the governor has taken a strict view on the state election commissioner’s report on the violent incidents, the Calcutta High Court on Wednesday (June 21) directed the state poll body to requisition over 82,000 central forces personnel within 24 hours for deployment in panchayat elections.
The panchayat elections are being seen as a litmus test for the main parties in the fray – TMC, BJP, CPI(M) and Congress – ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Opposition parties in the state have targeted the TMC over the incidents of murder, arson and clashes during the filing of nominations between June 9 and 15.
The state has 928 zilla parishad, 9,730 panchayat samiti and 63,229 gram panchayat seats. The TMC filed maximum nominations at 85,817 followed by the BJP with 56,321 candidates. The CPI(M) filed nominations in 48,646 seats followed by the Congress (17,750), Independent (16,293), Forward Bloc (1,595) and others (10,042), as per SEC data.
According to the data available, for the 928 zilla parishad seats, the TMC has been able to field candidates in 100 percent seats followed by the BJP in 97.3 percent seats, the CPI(M) in 80.6 percent and the Congress in 69.5 percent seats.
For the 9,730 panchayat samiti seats, the TMC has fielded candidates in 96.1 percent seats, the BJP in 73.1 percent, the CPI(M) in 69.5 percent and the Congress in 23.4 percent.
Out of the total 63,229 gram panchayat seats, the TMC has fielded candidates in 96.4 percent seats, the BJP in 61.2 percent, the CPI(M) in 56.1 percent and the Congress in 18.9 percent.
This shows that the TMC has been able to field candidates in a maximum number of seats across zilla parishads, panchayat samitis and gram panchayats. While the BJP is a close second when it comes to zilla parishad seats, it is nowhere near the ruling party in the contest for panchayat samiti and gram panchayat seats. The CPI(M) and Congress are third and fourth across all three tiers.
Out of 63,229 gram panchayat seats, a total of 6,238 were won uncontested; in 9,730 panchayat samiti seats, 759 did not face any contest; and in 928 zilla parishad seats, only eight were declared to be won without a contest.
This time, uncontested seats won by the TMC are much lower than they were in 2018 when it won 34 percent of such seats.
As for a total of 20,585 withdrawal of nominations, the TMC is leading the chart with 6,848, the BJP with 5,542, the CPI(M) with 2,990 and the Congress with 1,827.
Close to 5.67 crore voters are eligible to exercise their franchise to choose their representatives in zilla parishads, panchayat samitis and gram panchayats.
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