Welcoming the Supreme Court verdict on panchayat poll, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday slammed the BJP, the Congress and the CPIM for resorting to “false propaganda” and “conspiracy” as well as “defaming” and “insulting” the state through “planned and planted move”.
“This is a victory of democracy and the people of Bengal. I want to dedicate this victory to the people. The three experts namely the CPI-M, Congress and BJP whom we have already called “Jagai, Madhai and Bidai” had resorted to false propaganda through a planned and planted move to gain political advantage. They (read Opposition political parties) have continuously disrespected, insulted, maligned and conspired against us,” said Miss Banerjee in Nabanna while reacting to the apex court verdict.
Read: WB rural polls: SC refuses to quash 20K seats results
The Supreme Court has refused to cancel election results on over 20,000 uncontested local body seats that were won by Trinamul Congress candidates, thereby turning down the pleas of the CPIM and the BJP which had sought cancellation of elections on the uncontested seats.
Miss Banerjee alleged that the CPI-M and the BJP had brought a bad name to the state by moving court. She said that panchayat election is akin to local polls and much depends on the number of voters in a booth. Sometimes villagers decide whom to elect for running the body, she said adding that in a few places even candidates of her party were not allowed to contest.
The figure of uncontested seats is much higher in other states, she said adding that Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim have 81 per cent uncontested seats while in Uttar Pradesh the uncontested figure stands at 67 per cent. In Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh too there are huge uncontested seats.
The Opposition parties had alleged that West Bengal did not witness a free and fair election and their candidates were stopped from filing nomination papers. Elections were held in phases for 48,650 posts in Gram Panchayats, 825 posts in Zilla Parishads and 9,217 posts in Panchayat Samitis and the Trinamul Congress won about 34 per cent seats uncontested.
Earlier, state panchayat and rural development minister Subrata Mukherjee termed the SC verdict as a “historic verdict”.