Re-polling in 573 Bengal booths; death toll hits 26

KOLKATA: Eleven more people died on Tuesday, a day after Monday’s violence-ridden panchayat poll, taking the body count over the past two days to 26. The dead included a presiding officer in North Dinajpur. The spectre of violence now looms over Wednesday’s re-polling, ordered for 573 booths all over the state, by the State Election Commission.
Both numbers are significant. The last panchayat poll held in 2013 saw re-polling at 21 booths, which means that the number of booths going for a re-poll this time, 573, would be more than 27 times that number.


The death toll, too, is significant. The body count of 26 for Monday and Tuesday — 15 for Monday (taking out the two deaths in South 24-Parganas’ Kakdwip, which the district administration said was because of electrocution and not connected to poll violence) and 11 for Tuesday — is one more than the 25 deaths over five days of polling in 2013. One important clause in the Calcutta High Court’s May 10 order, which said the SEC and senior state government officials would have to pay compensation for deaths and damage to property, mentioned that this would come into effect if the violence this time exceeded 2013 levels.

There seems to be a correlation between the violence and the number of booths going for a re-poll. Only six districts account for about 65% (or 362 out of 573 booths) of the booths that will see re-polling: North Dinajpur (73 booths for re-poll) Murshidabad (63), Nadia (60), North 24-Parganas (59), Malda (55) and Coochbehar (52).

These are also the districts that have seen the most violent polling. SEC officials said re-polling had been ordered mainly for booths where ballot boxes were snatched and ballot papers were singed or dumped in water and it depended on reports from presiding and returning officers as well as inputs from district observers. But the state poll panel has not ordered any re-poll for a single booth in South 24-Parganas’ Bhangar.

Opposition parties took to various means — legal and executive — to protest against the violence. State BJP president Dilip Ghosh wrote to PM Narendra Modi, giving an account of the casualties and the incidents of violence, and BJP candidates and other office-bearers wrote to the SEC, demanding re-poll at 2400 booths.

Malda Congress president Mousam Noor has demanded re-polling at 1,000 polling booths in the district. Independents, backed by the Save Land Livelihood Environment Protection Committee, took out a rally, showcasing the injured in poll violence and demanding re-polling in Bhangar.

Trinamool supporters, on the other hand, staged a demonstration in South Dinajpur’s Balurghat against the SEC decision to hold re-poll at 35 booths in the district. Trinamool secretary-general Partha Chatterjee, however, said the party did not have anything against the SEC. “The three parties, the CPM, the BJP and the Congress, came together against the Trinamool but could not do much. Let them now demand that elections be held under military surveillance with voters being flown in from outside Bengal,” Chatterjee mocked.

The CPM and the PDS complained about the violence before the Calcutta High Court division bench of Chief Justice Jyotirmay Bhattacharya and Justice Arijit Banerjee, urging the court to take cognisance of the matter suo motu based on newspaper reports. Justice Banerjee declined the prayer and asked the parties to file petitions, which would have the death toll and death certificates and complaints lodged at police stations for the court to consider them. Lawyers Rabi Shankar Chatterjee and Md Shamim told TOI they would file the petitions by Thursday.

Bengal Congress president Adhir Chowdhury would be filing a contempt petition on Thursday, Congress lawyer Pratik Chatterjee said. Lawyer Supradip Roy will move Chief Justice Bhattacharya’s court on Wednesday, praying to stall the counting of votes on May 17 and also set aside the poll itself.