Mamata hopes to reverse 2008 tally in Junglemahal
Phase I begins today: Congress,BJP watch from sidelines as CPM,Trinamool lock horns in three Maoist-affected districts
The three Naxal-affected districts of West Midnapore,Bankura and Purulia in Junglemahal,which will go to polls in the first phase of the five-phase panchayat election amid tight security on Thursday,are the places where the ruling Trinamool Congress has pinned its hopes. In the last panchayat elections held in 2008,the party had drawn almost a blank,barring a few gram panchayat seats. The party’s presence was almost negligible,while the Left Front ruled the roost.
Significantly,these three districts,which were once dominated by the Maoists,have this time not heard of any “vote boycott call”. In the last panchayat elections and in 2009 Lok Sabha elections,the Maoists had called for vote boycott in the region.
The Trinamool has already won at least 15 to 20 per cent seats uncontested in Bankura and West Midnapore. In Purulia,however,not a single seat has gone uncontested. Of around 2,100 gram panchayat seats in Bankura,Trinamool has already registered victory in around 585. In West Midnapore,the party has won 1,117 seats uncontested.
Trinamool MP from Tamluk Suvendu Adhikary,who is in-charge of the party’s affairs in the three districts,termed the CPM’s 2008 victory in the area as flawed. “The CPM captured the earlier elections by terror tactics. They used to deploy armed cadres for terrorising the villagers and camps of armed cadres were installed,” he said.
Discounting any threat from the Maoists,Adhikary said,“Even though there are some information about some movement of Maoists in the bordering areas of Bengal and Jharkhand,the villagers did not receive any call to boycott voting this time.”
Trinamool’s Bankura district president Shyam Mukherjee said the party has already won at least 24 per cent of the total seats. “We have won panchayat samity seats in four blocks. And as of now,we have not received any information about Maoists threat to the candidates and to the voters,” he added.
With the contest being primarily between the CPM and the Trinamool,the Congress and BJP could only watch it from the side. In some blocks,the Trinamool,however,is facing dissidents. Several Trinamool candidates who did not get the party symbol have jumped in the poll fray as Independents. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee,in her last campaign rally in Lalgarh on July 8,exhorted voters not to vote for any ‘Independent’ candidate.
Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) is another strong force in certain blocks in the area,including Jamboni and Binpur in West Midnapore. The CPM is said to have joined hands with the JMM at panchayat level this year,though the Congress has recently forged an official alliance with the JMM chief Shibu Soren in Jharkhand where the two parties are likely to form the next government in the state.
CPM’s Dipak Sarkar said,“We have an understanding with JMM. At places where we could not field our candidates,we are supporting JMM candidates and vice-versa.”
Interestingly,several Maoists with murder and sedition cases have also been fielded as candidates by the Trinamool.
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