In what the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) called “a very dark chapter” in the democratic history of India, the party accused the Mamata Banerjee-led government in West Bengal of being responsible for the violence that erupted during the nomination process for the Panchayat polls. The BJP alleged that the State Election Commission and the police remained unresponsive to the incidents of violence, indicating that the Trinamool Congress (TMC) government has taken control of the system.
During a press conference at the party headquarters, BJP national spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP Sudhanshu Trivedi expressed his dismay over the violent scenes witnessed during the Panchayat elections in West Bengal. He stated, “The kind of violent scenes that are being seen in the Panchayat elections of West Bengal are extremely painful. There is violence all around.” Trivedi criticized the insensitivity of the TMC government towards the incidents of violence and accused both the state government and the State Election Commission of inaction.
On the last day of nomination filing, at least three individuals were shot dead and several others were injured in violent clashes that took place across the state. The police faced significant challenges in controlling the situation, as clashes were reported from various parts of West Bengal.
Trivedi claimed that several BJP workers were fatally attacked on the last day of filing nominations, yet the state government and the State Election Commission showed no response to these incidents. He strongly criticized the behavior of the West Bengal government and the state police, stating that their actions would be remembered as a dark chapter in the democratic and electoral history of the country.
The BJP leaders described the prevailing situation in West Bengal as unfortunate and presented a list of 25-30 incidents where party workers were injured in fatal attacks. Trivedi compared the TMC government’s tactics to those of the former communist government, cautioning that their fate could be similar.
Trivedi demanded that the state government fulfill its constitutional responsibility and urged the State Election Commission to do the same.
