Following re-polling at 696 panchayat booths, after the voting on July 8 was declared void in light of alleged rigging, booth capturing and multiple reports of electoral malfeasance and voter intimidation, the stage is set for the counting of votes in West Bengal on Tuesday.
Days after the election-related violence in the three-tier West Bengal panchayat polls broke out, claiming several lives across all parties, the Bharatiya Janata Party national president JP Nadda on Monday nominated a four-member fact-finding committee to visit the affected areas in the stat
The senior BJP MP expressed disappointment over the state of violence in the state. "We will visit the places where violence broke out. We will meet the victims," he said.
The counting of votes for the high-stake West Bengal panchayat election will begin on Tuesday at 8 am, a litmus test for Mamata Banerjee and BJP ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
He further highlighted that the Calcutta High Court had previously directed the State Election Commission to ensure the presence of CCTV cameras and centralized monitoring of footage with police assistance in all polling booths. However, Adhikari alleged that these directives were not follow
A day after the violence-marred Panchayat polls, the West Bengal State Election Commission on Monday conducted re-polling at 696 polling booths, however, no fresh cases of violence were reported as it was under the supervision of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF).
West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose is scheduled to meet Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday evening, two days after panchayat polls in the state that saw violence
"Today, it feels like an election day. We can see the central forces today", said Anamika Mandal, who came to cast her vote at Tikiapara Primary High School in the Murshidabad district.