Violence during 2023 West Bengal panchayat polls was widespread and endemic, says study

Both the Calcutta High Court and West Bengal State Election Commission had failed to control the violence in the rural polls during the panchayat polls of 2023

Observing that the violence during the West Bengal panchayat elections in 2023 was “widespread and endemic” a recent study has pointed out that the local elections in the State are more violent as the control over panchayats means controlling the society and economics of the region.

The report ‘How the Vote was Taken - A Study of The 2023 Panchayat Election’ was released by Paschim Banga Khet Majoor Samity (PBKMS) on December 9 and the researchers tried to look at various questions relating to the violence. Panchayat polls in West Bengal were held between June 9 to July 11, 2023 and widespread violence was reported across the State in which more than 40 persons were believed to have killed in political violence.

“Everyone feels that the political goons possess arms. The availability of bombs is known to be widespread. So, while they may not have directly witnessed violence, people keep quiet about wrongdoing or keep out of altercations because of the fear of violent reprisals,” the report says. The survey also brings out that along with violence, money and bribes play an important role in the panchayat elections.

Anuradha Talwar, one of the founder members of PBKMS said that the violence is rampant during the rural polls because “panchayat has become an instrument of consolidating power in the region” and this is not the case for Assembly polls of Lok Sabha elections.

The study was based on responses collected from 821 persons across eight districts of West Bengal. Equal number of responses were collected from villages where the PBKMS had their union and where they did not. The result of the survey on the comparison of the violence provides that 46.3% of respondents said that they suffered from mental trauma, followed by physical injury of 42.5 %.

“Physical injury was much more in villages where PBKMS did not have a union when compared to villages where did not have the union,” the report points out.

Subha Protim Roy Chowdhury, who has been actively linked with the study, pointed out that the survey reveals violence was less in villages where there were union activities indicating that such violence can be resisted with social activism and unity among the people.

“The survey as well as the media reports which we relied upon hints that the violence in most cases was perpetrated by the ruling party, though there were incidents of opposition parties also relying on the violence during panchayat polls,” Mr. Roy Chowdhury said.

The report also sheds light on the role of West Bengal State Election Commission (WBSEC) that is entrusted with the responsibility of conducting the rural polls as well as the Calcutta High Court that heard a number of petitions alleging violence during the polls.

‘As the entire process (the panchayat) happened within a month, the High Court was unable to intervene effectively. Also the elections involve a lot of micromanagement which is outside the scope of the High Court and could not be done if the administration was not biased,” the report said.

The report also highlights that WBSEC is not independent as it functions on resources, police and other material support from the State administration and the researchers pointed out that for holding violence free panchayat polls the WBSEC should be made independent.

Published - December 11, 2024 10:48 am IST