Panchayat polls will take place in West Bengal on July 8, but for the past week, some Bharatiya Janata Party candidates have allegedly been unable to go back to their homes. They say they fear for their lives because of violence allegedly unleashed by workers and supporters of the ruling Trinamool Congress and now the BJP has arranged ‘safe havens’ for them.
Meet Subhankar Giri from Nazat gram panchayat of Sandeshkhali block. He claims he could not file his nomination for the upcoming polls when went to the local block development officer (BDO)’s office. Then he went to the sub-divisional officer (SDO)’s office but failed again. Finally, he filed his nomination following court directions but says now he can’t go back home.
“We can’t bear their violence anymore. They did not allow us to file nominations. We went to court and finally succeeded but now they are constantly threatening us. Don’t tell them where we are or they will finish us,” Giri told News18.
Subhankar is not alone. In the same safe haven in Kolkata, Pintu Sardar, Soma Maity, Nirupama Biswas, and Anamika Das of the BJP are in hiding. About 24 people are in this house.
Soma Maity from Durga Mandap gram panchayat of Sandeshkhali told News18, “We were thrown out of our house in 2018 for supporting the BJP. This time also if central forces do not come then maybe we would never be able to go back. We are candidates but can’t enter our own locality.”
There was a perpetual sense of dread in this house.
Santanu Mondal Sabhapati, a BJP member of the locality, told News18, “A lot of our candidates are here and our party also has made safe havens in other districts too. We have to protect our candidates.”
Tamoghna Ghosh, BJP Kolkata leader, told News18, “Our candidates are fighting from the front. Here at least they are safe. Our worry is that since they are unable to go back to their villages, how will they campaign? It’s a matter of their lives and we can’t risk that.”
Not only Kolkata, but BJP is making such arrangements in other districts too.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed the Mamata Banerjee government’s petition challenging the deployment of central forces in Bengal for the July 8 local body polls.
The TMC government and the State Election Commission had challenged the Calcutta High Court’s order directing central forces for security during the panchayat elections.
Sources say the State Election Commission will requisition one company of central force for every district.
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