Despite an interim order of Calcutta High Court to stop the panchayat election process, violence continued unabated in different parts of the state on Saturday.
Cutting across ideologies, leaders of different Opposition parties felt that the ongoing violence is part of a game plan to retain the belligerence of the criminals allegedly backed by the ruling party till the conclusion of the rural
polls.
People are aggrieved and some of the leaders of the Trinamul are feeling pangs of conscience at the events occurring all over the state which are at variance with democratic practice, leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly, Abdul Mannan said during the day.
The manhandling of Opposition activists and setting their homes on fire is not confined to a particular area of the state as in the previous regime’s tenure, he pointed out.
The reason why the entire state is scarred with violence is not far to seek, Mannan said. The ruling party seeks to do away with Opposition in each every booth of the panchayat and have therefore let loose a reign of terror, he felt.
Ignoring the stay-order of the Calcutta High Court criminals allegedly Trinamul Congress activists are still terrorising people in districts asking them not to work for the oppositions’ election campaigns for panchayat polls, Mr Dilip Ghosh, state Bharatiya Janata Party president said during the day.
“I am campaigning in Midnapore (west) district since last Thursday and there are reports of terror unleashed allegedly by Trinamul Congress across different districts. The Trinamul-backed goons are terrorising our party workers by asking them not to campaign for our candidates in the polls,” Mr Ghosh said.
“Trinamul wants to foil the panchayat elections creating a reign of terror among voters.”
“We are trying to prevent this sinister attempt even at the gun points of the ruling party,” Mr Dilip Ghosh claimed.
The state election commission (SEC) in an order issued on Friday has directed the district magistrates and panchayat election officers to stop training programme among the polling personnel till further instructions after the BJP lodged a complaint with the SEC alleging that the poll process was still going on in districts violating the court order.
The Left Front legislature party leader Mr Sujon Chakraborty did not comment when asked about reports of violence in different parts of the state.