Ruling Trinamul Congress suffered a setback in its stronghold Bhangar area after losing Polerhat-II gram panchayat to the Indian Secular Front (ISF)-Jami Rakshma Committee (JRC) alliance. The alliance has won most of the seats in Polerhat-II GP with a tally of 24 seats.
Trinamul Congress strongman and former party MLA from Bhangar Arabul Islam, who is a resident of Polerhat, looked upset with the defeat. He told reporters after the counting on Tuesday, “Besides my booth our party has lost in all other seats in Polerhat GP. With the announcement of election date by West Bengal State Election Commission (WBSEC) on 8 June, Bhangar, hardly 30 km away from the city, had become a hotbed of political clashes between the workers of Trinamul Congress and ISF-led Naushad Siddqui, the sole MLA in the Assembly.
The series of violence led to death of three persons with crude bombs being thrown, firings, and torching of local establishments between the two belligerent groups. A political observer said that Trinamul Congress leadership has explored all sorts of initiatives to strengthen its organizational activities in Bhangar in the run-up to the polls.
The party leadership had deputed its MLA Saokat Mollah and Sabyasachi Dutta, chairman of Bidhannagar Municipality, in Bhangar to look after the party’s organizational activities to combat the opposition forces. There had been regular reports of massive violence between Trinamul and ISF workers since the day of filing nomination papers in the office of BDOs at Bhangar I and II blocks respectively on 9 June.
Two Trinamul Congress men and an ISF worker were killed during a political clash between the two parties. Governor CV Ananda Bose also visited different areas of Bhangar and met relatives of victims urging the contesting political parties to restore peace there. He also visited Khanthalberia in Bhangar today, where reports of clashes between the ruling party and opposition ISF erupted during counting