About 9% of seats ‘go uncontested’ in Panchayat polls: Report

MP | 22 June 2023 | Kolkata: About 9.48 per cent of the total seats in the three-tier Panchayat elections in Bengal scheduled to be held on July 8 have gone uncontested, as per report by the State Election Commission (SEC). 

In the previous Panchayat polls in the state held in 2018, 34 per cent of the seats were won uncontested. Birbhum figures among the top when it comes to uncontested seats with 1,022 followed by North 24-Parganas which have 974 uncontested seats. The total number of seats in Gram Panchayat (GP), Panchayat Samiti (PS) and Zilla Parishad (ZP) that have been won uncontested in Birbhum are 893,128 and 1 respectively. 

As many as 7,005 out of 73,887 seats in the three-tier Panchayat elections have gone uncontested as per reports by the state Election Commission. 

The total number of seats in Gram Panchayat that have gone uncontested is 6,238, in Panchayat Samiti the number is 759 while in Zilla Parishad the number is 8. In North 24-Parganas and South Dinajpur, 3 Zilla Parishad seats each have gone uncontested. 

The total number of seats in Gram Panchayat is 63,229, in Panchayat Samiti it is 9,730 while in Zilla Parishad this is 928. The figures show that 10 per cent of the total seats in Gram Panchayat, 8 per cent of total seats in Panchayat Samiti and less than 1 per cent of seats in Zilla Parishad have gone uncontested. 

The last date for withdrawal of nomination was June 20, (Tuesday) and the poll is scheduled to be held on July 8. In Murshidabad which will see a contest in the highest number of seats that amounts to 6,419 only 178 seats have been won uncontested.

In West Burdwan 858 out of 4,010 seats in Gram Panchayat and 93 out of 640 seats in PS have been won uncontested. 

However, the Commission has not provided any information regarding uncontested seats in South 24-Parganas. 

According to data published by the SEC, 205,720 candidates are contesting in the Panchayat Polls out of which 71,287 are Trinamool candidates. 

As many as 46,738 candidates are from BJP, 43,029 are from CPI(M) while 14,914 are from Congress. The total number of Independent candidates in the fray is 19,953 which includes 509 in ZP. In 928 seats in the Zilla Parishad, BJP has been able to field candidates in 903 seats while CPI(M) and Congress have managed to field 748 and 645 candidates respectively. 

https://www.millenniumpost.in/bengal/about-9-of-seats-go-uncontested-in-panchayat-polls-report-523047