On July 9, 2023, senior Border Security Force (BSF) officials made a significant disclosure regarding the recent panchayat elections held in West Bengal and the associated large-scale violence. BSF DIG S S Guleria accused the State Election Commission of withholding crucial information from the central security forces for deployment at sensitive polling stations during the elections.
According to Guleria, the Border Security Force had repeatedly written letters to the State Election Commission, requesting information about sensitive polling stations. However, except for June 7, no information was provided on any other day. The officer stated that only the number of sensitive booths was disclosed, without any details about their locations or other relevant information.
Guleria further revealed that the BSF was deployed based on the orders of the local administration. Despite the arrival of 59,000 columns of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) and State Armed Police from 25 states for election duty, they were not adequately utilized at sensitive polling stations. The state authorities had declared only 4,834 sensitive booths, with only CAPFs deployed there, even though there were many more sensitive polling stations than that.
The panchayat elections held on July 8 in West Bengal were marred by widespread violence across the state. Reports emerged of booth capturing, damage to ballot boxes, and attacks on presiding officers from districts such as Murshidabad, Behar, Malda, South 24 Parganas, North Dinajpur, and Nadia. Tragically, the violence resulted in the loss of over 30 lives and numerous injuries.
The State Election Commission had established a total of 61,636 polling stations for conducting elections to 3,317 grampanchayats, 341 panchayat samitis, and 20 zila parishads in West Bengal. To ensure the safe conduct of elections, 59,000 personnel from the Central Armed Police Forces and other state police forces were entrusted with the responsibility of guarding the polling stations, including the 4,834 sensitive booths where only CAPFs were deployed.
It is worth noting that under the Trinamool Congress Party’s rule, West Bengal has witnessed a deteriorating law and order situation. Mamata Banerjee’s government has been unsuccessful in containing the escalating violence, particularly the targeted killings of RSS and BJP workers, which have become distressingly commonplace. The use of bombs as a means of political rivalry has also become alarmingly frequent, even at the block or village level. Despite the significant number of political killings, mainstream media outlets have refrained from labelling it a murder of democracy due to the apprehension of potential vindictive actions from Mamata Banerjee’s government.
