Elections Must Be Through Ballots, Not Bullets: Bengal Governor On Panchayat Polls

Amid widespread violence in Bengal on polling day, West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose on Saturday said that elections must be held "through ballots, not bullets.

At least nine people were killed in election-related violence as polling for the West Bengal panchayat elections began on Saturday.

"I have been in the field right from the morning...People requested me and stopped my motorcade on the way. They told me about the murders happening around them, told me about the goons not allowing them to go to the polling booths...It should cause concern to all of us. This is the most sacred day for democracy...The election must be through ballots and not bullets," Governor Bose told reporters.

All parties cutting across ideological lines condemned the killing of nine people in various parts of the state as voting for the panchayat elections is underway.

The opposition BJP and CPI(M) alleged that the State Election Commission (SEC) did not deploy the central forces as per the orders of the Calcutta High Court. The ruling TMC, which lost five of its supporters to poll violence, questioned the absence of central forces that have been brought in for the elections. "Shocking incidents are being reported since last night. BJP, CPI(M) and Congress had colluded, demanding central forces. Where are they deployed? TMC workers are being murdered. Where are the central forces?" state minister Sashi Panja asked.

"There is rampant usage of arms and the ruling Trinamool Congress is behind all these incidents. They had planned it well in advance to create disturbances on the polling day and loot votes. But I am happy to see that in some places, people have put up resistance," senior CPI(M) leader Dr Sujan Chakraborty claimed. "I am quite surprised to see that the deployment of the central forces was not done as per the Calcutta High Court order. There seems to be some kind of understanding... It is a complete violation of the Court order," Chakraborty told PTI.

BJP leader Rahul Sinha claimed that the SEC is working as per the direction of the state's Trinamool Congress government and it has failed to discharge its duties totally. "This is evident from the way they are conducting the polling today. At several booths, there are no central forces, while the state police are also absent in a few. I have got photographs as well as videos where CCTVs were not connected to wires even. This actually helped the miscreants carry out violence," he said.