Counting for West Bengal Gram Panchayat Election Results 2018 began today
West Bengal Gram Panchayat Election Results 2018: Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress raced towards another big win on Thursday, after establishing an early lead. TMC workers broke into celebration as results started trickling in, pointing towards victory. The party has won four zilla parishads and is currently leading in 16 seats.
In Mamata's Bengal, BJP emerges as principal opponent
As counting began on Thursday morning at 291 counting centres, sporadic reports of violence also emerging from few places. Opposition created a ruckus after accusing the ruling TMC of setting up their own party agents as counting officers. Trinamool has denied all allegations.
The chief parties in the fray for WB rural polls are Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Communist Party of India (Marxist). The polls were marked with violence. At 12 persons died and over 40 injured after 43 clashes ensued between cadres of the contesting parties. Reports of miscreants stopping the voters from exercising their franchise, booth capturing and destroying ballot boxes emerged from several districts.
Watch West Bengal Panchayat Election Results 2018 LIVE streaming on Zee News
The voting took place for 621 zilla parishads, over six thousand panchayat samitis, and nearly 31 thousand gram panchayats. The zilla parishads are Bankura, Burdwan, Birbhum, Darjeeling, Howrah, Hooghly, Jalpaiguri, Cooch Behar, Malda, Paschim Medinipur, Purba Medinipur, Murshidabad, Nadia, Purulia, North 24-Parganas, South 24-Parganas, Dakshin Dinajpur, Uttar Dinajpur, Siliguri MP, Kolkata-North, Alipurduar, Kolkata-South and Paschim Burdwan.
Following the violent clashes, the State Election Commission ordered repolling in 572 booths. The voting was held on May 14, repolling on Wednesday, May 16. Over 73 per cent of the electorate had turned out to cast their vote, while 68 per cent voter turnout was recorded in the repolls. The SEC had initially earmarked 568 booths for repolls but later increased it to 572 booths.
Criticism emerged from several sections following the widespread violence that ensued in the state rural panchayats. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday called it murder of democracy. “The scenes from the Panchayat Elections in West Bengal. It was nothing but a murder of democracy. From the nomination stage to the day of polling, where was the spirit of democracy? People were bullied," said the PM.
Ruling Trinamool Congress has dismissed all allegations of violence as baseless.
The panchayat elections in West Bengal saw huge-scale clashes on Monday, primarily between TMC workers and the BJP and CPM.
Mamata has hit back at PM Modi who had accused the WB government of inciting violence. "BJP workers did not lose lies in the violence. Trinamool workers did. The PM of the country does not obey his words, he forgets his constitutional position and is making comments on the state's law and order," she said.
The latest update is as follows - In Zilla Parishad, the TMC has won 351 seats, BJP 9, Left 2, Congress 4 and Others 0. In Panchayat Samiti, the TMC has won 3541 seats, BJP 281, Left 100, Congress 62 and Others 1. In Gram Panchayat, the TMC has won 18715 seats, BJP 4656, Left 1378, Congress 801 and Others 1601.
According to the SEC, the TMC has won 2,467 gram panchayat seats and is leading in 2,683 seats. The BJP has won 386 seats and is leading in 231 seats while the CPI(M) won 94 seats and is leading in 163 seats, the officials said. The Congress won 33 seats and is leading in 55 seats. Independent candidates have emerged winners in 158 seats and are leading in 163 seats.
West Bengal panchayat elections: Election trends at 13:30
TMC: 3
BJP: 0
CPM: 0
Congress: 0
Others: 0
WB Zilla Parishad Panchayat elections trends:
TMC: 203
BJP: 0
CPM: 0
Congress: 0
Others: 0
WB Panchayat Samiti trends:
TMC: 3035
BJP: 0
CPM: 0
Congress: 0
Others: 0
WB Gram Samiti trends:
TMC: 16820
BJP: 160
CPM: 57
Congress: 17
Others: 49
Counting of votes for #PanchayatElection has started in 6 districts of North Bengal; Visuals from outside a counting centre in Cooch Behar pic.twitter.com/9UYINB9b4U
— ANI (@ANI) May 17, 2018
Watch: Miscreants escape with ballot box as chaos ensue during WB Panchayat repolling
Unidentified miscreants ran away with ballot boxes from a polling booth in Malda district on Wednesday morning, as repolling was underway in 568 booths across West Bengal. Reports of violence also emerged from some parts, with Rapid Action Force (RAF) and police baton charging on the crow.
Statistics reveal that of the total 58,692 seats in the three tiers of the rural local bodies, 20,076 seats, or 34.2 percent, have already been decided uncontested, with the Trinamool Congress bagging a whopping proportion of these seats, as per IANS. These include 16,814 of the total 48,650 gram panchayats seats, 3,059 of the 9,217 panchayat samiti seats and 203 of the 825 zila parishad seats. The Supreme Court has now asked the SEC not to issue winning certificates in these seats.