Counting for Bengal rural polls underway, TMC leading

KOLKATA: Early trends indicate that the Trinamool Congress is leading in over 2,229 gram panchayat seats in West Bengal while the BJP is ahead in 664 seats, State Election Commission officials said on Tuesday. The CPI(M) is currently leading in over 460 gram panchayat seats followed by its ally Congress in 168, they said. The ruling TMC is also leading in 28 seats of gram samities, SEC officials said.

''These are unofficial figures, we will make an official announcement later,'' a poll official told PTI. The counting of votes for the three-tier panchayat polls to nearly 74,000 seats in West Bengal began in a peaceful manner amid tight security, officials said.

There are around 339 counting venues spread across 22 districts.

The maximum number of counting centres was in South 24 Parganas at 28, while the minimum was in Kalimpong at four. Some northern districts are also facing inclement weather.

''The counting, which began at 8 am, is likely to continue for the next two days. It will take time for the ballots to be counted and the results to be compiled. We are hopeful that a trend will be available by the end of the day,'' an SEC official said.

All the counting venues are being manned by armed state police personnel and central forces, with prohibitory orders under Section 144 of CrPC being imposed outside the venue to avoid any untoward incidents. There are a total of 767 strongrooms across 22 districts.

Large crowds of supporters of various candidates gathered at various centres to ensure that the counting was conducted correctly.

Violence had rocked West Bengal's rural polls on Saturday, leaving 15 people dead while ballot boxes were vandalised, ballot papers torched, and bombs thrown at rivals in several places.

Of those killed, 11 were affiliated with the TMC. The total death toll in the state since the poll process began on June 8, when the dates were announced, has crossed 30.

A voter turnout of 80.71 per cent was recorded on Saturday, whereas a vote percentage of 69.85 was recorded till 5 pm in 696 booths across West Bengal, where repolling was held on Monday.

The decision for repolling was taken after reviewing reports of violence and tampering with ballot boxes and ballot papers on Saturday.

A total of 5.67 crore people living in the state's rural areas were eligible to decide the fate of 2.06 lakh candidates in 73,887 seats of the panchayat system.

Saturday's violence was in keeping with the state's history of violent rural elections, including the 2003 panchayat polls, which gained notoriety for its cumulative death toll of 76 during the poll process, with nearly 40 killed on the day of polling.

This year, with more than 30 killed since polls were announced earlier last month, the toll remained almost equal to that of the previous panchayat elections in 2018.

However, this time, the Opposition had fielded candidates in more than 90 per cent of seats, unlike in 2018 rural polls, when the ruling TMC had won 34 per cent of the seats uncontested.

In the 2018 rural polls, the ruling TMC had emerged victorious in 90 per cent of the panchayat seats and in all the 22 zilla parishads. The elections were marred by widespread violence, with the opposition alleging they were prevented from filing nominations in several seats.