TeaThe 2023 Panchayat elections for the three-tier Panchayati Raj Institutions, Gram Panchayats, Panchayat Samitis and Zilla Parishads were held in West Bengal, in which the All India Trinamool Congress won the lead and the Bharatiya Janata Party emerged as the second largest party. Local body seats. Although the BJP has improved its seat and vote tally compared to previous elections, the difference between the winner and the runner-up remains significant. The Communist Party of India (Marxist), which had ruled the state for almost three-and-a-half decades, came third, while the Congress had a negligible presence. The Aam Aadmi Party got just one vote, which shows that the main contest in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections is likely to be between the TMC and the BJP.
Gram Panchayat elections in West Bengal are of great importance for three main reasons apart from other important factors. They serve as pointers for upcoming elections.
In the 2018 panchayat elections, TMC won 95% of Zilla Parishad seats, 90% of Panchayat Samiti seats and 73% of Gram Panchayat seats. The BJP won 5,779 seats, securing a vote share of 11.9%. CPM won 1,483 seats with 3% vote share, while Congress won 1,066 seats with 2.2% vote share. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP made a massive lead in the state, winning 18 Lok Sabha seats, while the ruling TMC won 22 seats compared to the 34 it won in 2014. In the 2021 assembly elections, TMC won 215 seats. , while the BJP made substantial progress, securing 77 seats, almost equal to the CPM’s tally in the 2016 assembly election. Therefore, the local body elections have become a barometer for the results of the assembly and Lok Sabha elections.
Local bodies exercise considerable power and influence over voters within their jurisdiction. The winning party gains control over the daily lives of the people and oversees various aspects of society, including educational institutions and government job allocation. Political opponents have either been erased or made irrelevant, they have no connection to the Writers’ Building, the official secretariat of the government.
In 1992, the 73rd Amendment to the Indian Constitution created a three-tier Panchayati Raj system, giving these local bodies significant functional and financial powers. Incidentally, West Bengal scores 5 out of 5 on the Functional Transfer Index but rates Comparatively less at 3.68 on the Financial Transfer Index. In 2014, 986 out of 999 gram panchayats in West Bengal able A grant of about Rs 20 lakh for each block. In 2017, the chief minister announced that elected representatives in village panchayats would earn a minimum of Rs 1,500 per month, up from Rs 150 earlier, leading to an increase in salaries at each level of the three-tier local bodies. Panchayat Pradhans got enough amount RaiseRs 2,000 to Rs 3,000 per month.
Additionally, these bodies receive significant budgetary allocations of crores of rupees. With unlimited political power, unrestricted financial resources and absolute control over muscle power and population, local body elections become a do-or-die battle. No wonder violence is often the first step towards political and financial power in the state, which serves as a gateway to higher political offices.
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a recurring theme
The scale of violence witnessed during the West Bengal panchayat elections has become a recurring feature of elections in the state. While recent incidents have received wide media coverage and attention from courts and political parties, the trend of election violence in West Bengal appears to be a continuation of the historical past. The cycle of violence began with independence in 1947, which coincided with the tragic partition and creation of the then East Pakistan. With the intention of taking “direct action” to establish a separate Muslim homeland after the British left India, the All India Muslim League declared 16 August 1946 as “Direct Action Day”. Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the famous leader of the Muslim League announced, “We will either have a divided India or a destroyed India.” The ensuing violence, known as the ‘1946 Calcutta Killings’ or ‘The Week of the Long Knives’, resulted in mass killings and large-scale population transfer led to an exodus of Hindus from East Pakistan, now Bangladesh. Since then, senseless violence has been witnessed in both the Bengals.
The political rivalry between the Indian National Congress and the All India Muslim League, each claiming to represent Hindus and Muslims respectively, resulted not only in killings and violence but also in partition and permanent political division. With the departure of the British and the partition, there was a vacuum in power and there was administrative collapse. The seat of political power was to be captured, which was eventually captured by the Congress. Like many other states, West Bengal had an uninterrupted Congress government for nearly three decades until 1977, when the Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Front won a majority of 231 seats, shrinking the Indian National Congress. Only 20 seats.
Violent attacks on political opponents have been the main rule in the state, initially between Congress and CPM, then between CPM and TMC and currently between TMC and BJP. Although political parties have changed over time, the leaders of street gangs have remained largely the same. Parties in West Bengal believe that political power comes through the barrel of a gun. Hopefully, the saying “what Bengal thinks today, India thinks tomorrow” will not apply to the prevalence of this belief and thoughtless political violence.
Seshadri Chari is the former editor of ‘Organiser’. He tweeted @seshadrihari. Thoughts are personal.
(Edited by Prashant)