In 41 of 42 seats of West Bengal's Birbhum zilla parishad, Trinamool Congress (TMC) candidates were declared "elected unopposed", reported The Indian Express. This development occurred hours before West Bengal State Election Commission issued a notification on Monday, 9 April, extending the last date for filing nomination papers for the panchayat polls by a day.
According to the report, the ruling party also secured 14 of 19 panchayat samitis in Birbhum "unopposed". The panchayat elections are slated to be held on 1, 3 and 5 May. In Murshidabad's Kandi too the TMC won 29 of 30 samiti seats uncontested.
In Bharatpur II TMC won all 21 panhayat samit seats and in Barwan it won all 37.
The Opposition parties accused the TMC of "rigging the polls". They also said the TMC has reduced the elections to "a farce" by not letting others contest, reported The Indian Express.
Bharatiya Janata Party's Birbhum president Ramakrishna Roy reportedly said that the TMC workers resorted to threats to stop BJP candidates from filing nomination papers.
CPM MLA Sujan Chakraborty alleged that TMC "captured" the rural bodies instead of winning them.
The State Election Commissioner AK Singh also said "information has been received through complaints, deputation etc. that intending candidates and proposers are being obstructed" from filing the nominations.
He said that the Supreme Court has directed the election commission to ensure that the intending candidates may not be deprived of their chance to contest panchayat elections.
The TMC, however, has refuted all such claims, added the report.
This victory signifies the culture of bombs and guns, and not of the people. They have terrorised people before the election and now they will claim that development has won.Anubrata Mondal, TMC Birbhum district president to The Indian Express
Partha Chatterjee, TMC's secretary general, asserted that the Opposition indulged in violence and outsiders entered the village to create trouble.
The Opposition does not have organisational strength in the district and that’s why they could not field candidates.Partha Chatterjee to The Indian Express
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