Lagatar24 Desk
Kolkata, July 8: As voting for the single-phase panchayat elections in West Bengal began on Saturday, Minister Shashi Panja accused the central forces of “failing to protect the citizens” and said that “TMC workers have been murdered.”
Prior to the West Bengal Panchayat “shocking” and “tragic” acts had occurred, the minister said, “The BJP, CPI(M) and Congress had colluded together and were clamouring for Central forces. Where is the deployment? Why have the central forces failed to protect the citizens?”
“TMC workers have been murdered, two have been shot at. Those who were asking for deployment, saying that these central forces are the guardians of peace – the guardians have failed, faltered to protect the rights of citizens,” Panja said.
Trinamool Congress had earlier claimed that three of its party’s members had been murdered in a number of violent events in West Bengal after voting for the state’s single-phase panchayat elections got under way on Saturday morning.
“Shocking and tragic incidents send shockwaves through the voting community. Three of our party workers have been murdered in Rejinagar, Tufanganj and Khargram and two have been left wounded from gunshots in Domkol,” tweeted TMC.
TMC criticised central forces for not ensuring the security and safety of people in a lengthy Twitter post.
“The @BJP4Bengal, @CPIM_WESTBENGAL and @INCWestBengal have been clamouring for the deployment of Central Forces. So, where are the Central Forces when they are needed the most?” the TMC further said.
“This signals a colossal failure on their part to ensure the safety and security of the people before the polls have even commenced!” TMC said in another tweet.
Nearly 928 seats in 22 zilla parishads, 9,730 panchayat samiti seats, and 63,239 gram panchayat seats will be decided by approximately 5.67 crore voters using their right to vote.
3,341 gram panchayats and 58,594 village panchayat election centres are located in West Bengal. The Gramme Panchayat level has 63,239 seats, the Panchayat Samiti level has 9730 members and the Zila Parishad level has 928 seats.
There will be a vote count, on July 11.
