Weeks after elections to panchayats in West Bengal, the political slugfest regarding the formation of the board of local bodies continues. On Sunday, four Opposition candidates who won the Krishnachandrapur gram panchayat seats from Mathurapur in South 24 Parganas district and were allegedly abducted a few days ago returned home.
The candidates went missing on the night of July 27 from a guest house in the Panchasayar area under the jurisdiction of the Kolkata Police. Of the four Opposition candidates, three were elected on the ticket of the BJP and one was an independent candidate supported by Communist Party of India (Marxist).
Days after the candidates went missing, and the family members approached the police, a video of candidates surfaced where they said that they had left their homes on their own. On Sunday, Puja Chhatui, Kamala Mondal and Sushanta Mondal who won seats for the BJP said that they were abducted by Trinamool supporters at gunpoint and were forced to record a video saying that they had gone into hiding at their will. A video of the alleged abduction on the night of July 27 recorded by the CCTV cameras at a guest house where the Opposition candidates were staying had also appeared in the public domain.
“We all left our village and moved to the guest house at Panchasayar fearing that Trinamool might force us to switch sides. Some armed Trinamool men came to the guest house on the night of July 27 and kidnapped us. They repeatedly changed our location over the next two days,” Ms. Chhatui told journalists.
“The video people saw was recorded by the kidnappers. They forced us to say that we were safe,” said Sushanta Mondal.
The CPI(M)-backed independent candidate, Narayan Haldar, did not make any comments. However, CPI(M) leader Kanti Ganguly, who was a Minister during the Left Front regime, alleged that policemen and Trinamool workers worked in tandem to kidnap the Opposition candidates. Sources in the police had said that they had approached the Opposition candidates and they said they were not abducted.
State BJP president Sukanta Majumdar said that the Opposition candidates were allowed to return home fearing intervention by the courts.
The Trinamool leadership, however, has denied the allegations. Saukat Mollah, the Trinamool MLA from Canning East, said, “There was no abduction. These people are keen on joining Trinamool. They left home to avoid their party leaders,” Mr. Mollah said.
For almost a week there was speculation about the four Opposition candidates going missing. On June 28, a newly elected Trinamool panchayat member was killed at Magrahat in the same district. Local Trinamool leadership had said that it was a political murder. More than 50 persons have lost their lives in the rural polls that were marred by violence.
Meanwhile, several winning candidates of Opposition parties have defected to Trinamool in Murshidabad district. Those who are defecting said that they were Trinamool and had defected to other parties since they were denied tickets for rural polls. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had asked party functionaries to form boards at the three-tier panchayats before August 16.