Trinamool Congress leaders Debasree Roy, Kunal Ghosh, Kalyan Banerjee, Minister Chandrima Bhattacharya and Mayor of Kolkata Firad Hakim addresses after a meeting with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for panchayat polls, in Kolkata, Saturday, May 17, 2023.
| Photo Credit: PTI
Nomination papers filed by candidates in the West Bengal panchayat elections point to the political dominance of the Trinamool Congress (TMC). The party has filed 85,817 nominations for 73,887 seats of the three tier panchayats in West Bengal.
The State’s ruling party is followed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has filed nominations for 56,321 nominations or about 75% seats at the panchayat level. The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) has filed nomination papers for 48,646 seats or 65% of the total seats. The Congress party has filed nominations for 17,750 seats.
Elections to about 63,239 seats at the Gram Panchayat level, 9,730 seats in Panchayat Samitis, and 928 Zilla Parishad seats in the State are scheduled on July 8.
After the filing of the nominations, which concluded on June 15, the scrutiny of nomination papers was held on Saturday, and the last date of withdrawal of nomination papers is July 20.
The TMC held a press conference on Saturday and urged all party workers who had filed nominations as Independent candidates to withdraw from the polls. About 16,293 nominations (22% seats) have been filed by Independent candidates, which has emerged as a reason for concern for the ruling party.
“We appeal to Trinamool workers to not contest elections as Independent candidates. They should withdraw their nomination immediately or else will remain Independents throughout their lives,” TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee said after a meeting of the party’s top brass at Kalighat.
The Trinamool leader said that the appeal to withdraw nominations has been made by party chairperson and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who has acknowledged the contribution of party workers and said that, in future, they would be given opportunities.
The issue of factionalism has plagued the State’s ruling party for quite some time. In the panchayat polls, it is facing the problem of plenty. State BJP president Sukanta Majumdar said that TMC supporters were pressurising party candidates to withdraw nominations.
Political observer and psephologist Biswanath Chakraborty said the numbers would change before the final contest. “Of the 341 Blocks of the State, in 47 Blocks (completely in 23 Blocks and partially in 24 Blocks), Opposition parties have not been able to file candidates for the panchayat polls,” Prof. Chakraborty said.
Referring to the 2018 panchayat polls in which the TMC won 34% seats without any contest, Prof. Chakraborty said the situation had improved in certain areas, including the Arambagh Subdivision of Hooghly, but remains the same in other areas, including Bhangar, Canning, Keshpur, and parts of Birbhum.