BJP fact-finding team alleges collapse of law and order in Bengal

BJP MP Vinod Sonkar, who is heading a five-member fact-finding team of the saffron party to West Bengal in the aftermath of panchayat elections, on Sunday alleged that law and order in the state has "collapsed".

He also claimed that post-poll violence in the state is common in every election from parliamentary to rural polls.

Alleging that 10 BJP workers have been killed in the aftermath of the panchayat elections held on July 8, he said, "Eight of them belonged to the scheduled classes".

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"Law and order in Bengal has collapsed," he said at a press conference here before visiting some places where BJP workers were allegedly subjected to assault and intimidation following the rural polls.

The five-member team sent by the BJP leadership over post-panchayat poll violence in Bengal, comprises MPs Suresh Kasyap, Vinod Chavda, S Muniswamy and Manoj Rajoria.

They spoke to people, who claimed to have been at the receiving end of atrocities by ruling Trinamool Congress activists in the state, at Tarakeswar in Hooghly district.

"Post-poll violence is nothing new in Bengal whenever elections are held, be it Lok Sabha, Vidhan Sabha or panchayat," Sonkar said.

The fact-finding team will submit a report to BJP president J P Nadda after visiting various places in the state, he said.

Claiming that the unfortunate death figures go on to reflect that people belonging to scheduled classes in Bengal are with the BJP, Sonkar said, "This has caused worry among the ruling party in the state as its base among them is decreasing."

The MP from Kaushambi in Uttar Pradesh claimed that in the recently held municipal elections in the state with 25 crore population, there has not been a single case of death related to it.

"So many deaths in Bengal mean that the administration is not active," Sonkar said.

The violence, which rocked the panchayat polls, had claimed at least 15 lives on the polling day while three more were murdered on counting day on July 12.

Since elections were announced last month, at least 33 people have lost their lives in poll-related violence, with the ruling party suffering 60 per cent of the deaths.