Panchayat violence: Who is at fault?

By A Staff Reporter

It is turning out to be one of the most violent panchayat elections in the history of West Bengal. Despite the presence of central forces, violence, rigging and looting of booths and incidents of firing and bomb throwing poured in from all over the state.

 Yet, the newly recruited state chief election commissioner Rajeeva Sinha maintained a studied silence. The Opposition called him a stooge of the ruling party. Replying to the allegations, TMC leaders mentioned that Sinha acted as per the law.

The Governor, CV Ananda Bose, who was touring the state and having a series of meetings with Rajeeva Sinha, went mum for most of the day. Whose fault is it anyways even as people lost their lives and violence engulfed the state?

 Opposition BJP and Leftists alleged that central forces were not put to use by the West Bengal police. The central forces arrived at the eleventh hour. The orders were issued late and preparations have to be made to pull them from different parts of the country. There were a series of litigations on panchayat elections which further delayed the process. As the state election commission, political parties and Governor indulged in a game of one-upmanship, local people in rural Bengal paid with their lives.