TMC considers 'murders' its guarantee to power: BJP on Bengal panchayat poll violence

The BJP on Saturday accused the Trinamool Congress of perpetuating violence during the panchayat polls in the state, which left at least 15 people dead. In a strong reaction to the poll violence, the BJP said that Mamata Banerjee is promoting gun culture in the state.

Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur said that the Trinamool Congress is using violence and killings as instruments to capture power and has “murdered” democracy, while BJP Bengal unit president Sukanta Majumdar wrote to union home minister Amit Shah asking for help from the Centre.

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Thakur asked why was the TMC keen on ballot boxes. “Why does the TMC want to move away from EVMs to ballot boxes? You must have all seen how they are running away with ballot boxes. Rigging is happening in ballot boxes. And murders are happening to establish supremacy. To what extent will Mamata Banerjee stoop to establish her government in Panchayati Raj,” Thakur said.

Thakur said that the spate of violence has put Bengal on the map for the wrong reasons. “This well-planned violence has been orchestrated by TMC. Mamata Banerjee should tell us why, during every election in West Bengal, there is violence, bombings and murders,” he added.

In a letter to Shah, Majumdar said that the districts that faced the maximum violence were South 24 Parganas, North 24 Parganas, Murshidabad, Paschim Medinipore, Purba Medinipore, Coochbehar, Jalpaiguri, Bankura, Hooghly, Uttar Dinajpur, Dakshin Dinajpur, Malda and East Bardhaman. He alleged booth capturing, rigging and fake voting.

“BJP karyakartas faced life threat, assault, loot and vandalism. TMC goons were proactive in snatching Voter/Aadhar cards of the common voters,” he wrote.

Urging for the intervention of the Centre, Majumdar said that there was barely any CAPF security in several booths.