Kolkata/Berhmapore: The Trinamul Congress has described the scale violence during the panchayat elections as “minimal” while claiming that the rural polls were by and large “peaceful”.
The ruling party’s stand was also endorsed by state director general of police Surajit Kar Purkayastha who stated that the rural polls were less violent while claiming that only six persons have been killed due to violence.
In the afternoon, Trinamul secretary-general Partha Chatterjee claimed, “The incidents shown on news channels is minimal compared to the polling across the state. The police is tackling the situation enough with iron hands. The voters could visit the booths and exercised their rights. But there were some stray incidents which the Trinamul never want them to happen. Our party does not support such incidents.”
He added, “The administration provided its best assistance to the state poll panel keeping its cool. Our workers were assaulted but they showed restraint. Compared to previous polls the elections went off peacefully barring few incidents.”
At the state secretariat: Nabanna Mr Purkayastha said, “Whatever death toll is shown is provided in a confusing way. Out of total 12 deaths only six were related to the polls.”
He added, “Other deaths happened in other ways. We had no complaints of inadequate police forces. No incident happened in front of the police. The police acted in all incidents. This time the panchayat polls were less violent compared to the previous ones.”
Lashing out at the ruling party and the administration state BJP president Dilip Ghosh met Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi with a party delegation including Mukul Roy.
He alleged, “Today’s situation is a prelude of an Emergency. The situation is heading towards the imposition of Article 356. We urged the governor to take a note of it and send his report to the Centre accordingly. The situation turned more violent than what all anticipated. This time violence and rigging began much before the polling started. We have reports that 21 persons were killed.”
State Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury also demanded that Article 356 should be enforced in the state. “Anarchy has engulfed the state. The violence took place under the guidance of chief minister Mamata Banerjee. Bengal was burnt under the fire-brand leader’s instruction. I think that Article 356 should be promulgated in the state. I will take it up at appropriate forums. The police officers acted at the behest of the Trinamul during the polls.”
