Kamarpur cynosure in coming Panchayat elections

Barrackpore, Apr 24: All eyes are on Kamarpur Panchayat of Habra Block-II in North 24 Parganas, where a woman Forward Bloc nominee has braved all odds to contest against the sitting CPI(M) candidate in the coming Panchayat elections here.

Despite a state-level compromise among the Front patrners, a Forward Bloc candidate in this block has dared to stand against the Front's major stakeholder.

Although, North 24 Parganas, the Forward Bloc has fielded as many as 179 candidates for village panchayat seats, 26 for Panchayat Samities and a meagre three candidates for the Zilla Parishad seats, the Bloc won only one each of their candidates in the Panchayat Samity level and Village Panchayat in Kawgachhi(Barrackpore Block-I) and Haroa, party officials in the district said.

Braving all odds, including threats, intimidation and humiliation, a determined Hamida Mandal maintained her decision to contest the elections with support from only the local party leadership and electorates.

Local party leaders in the Bloc incidentally were not happy with the high-handedness of the front major giving little importance to the Bloc members. Meanwhile, the Front major had reportedly been under pressure from the party's internal problems, with a few agrieved CPI(M) members pitching against the official candidates in about 45 seats of Habra Block-I village panchayats, some members of this Front partner pointed out.

UNI