West Bengal Panchayat Election Results: Counting Of Votes Underway In 339 Venues

 Ahead of the 2024 parliament elections, the panchayat election, which includes nearly 65 per cent of the state's population, is serving as a litmus test for the state's political parties and it also holds the power to reshape the entire political scenario of the state. 

Outlook, 11 July 2023: After the state witnessed an ambience of massive violence, the results of the West Bengal panchayat election will be declared today amid tight security of central forces and the state police.

The counting of votes for the three-tier panchayat elections in West Bengal began amid tight security on Tuesday morning, officials said.

It has been reported that votes held for 73,887 seats in zilla parishad, panchayat samiti and gram panchayat will be counted in 339 venues across 22 districts of the state.

All counting centres have a deployment of central forces and CCTV cameras installed, said the officials.

"The counting, which began at 8 am, is likely to continue for the next two days. It will take time for the ballots to be counted and the results to be compiled. We are hopeful that a trend will be available by the end of the day," an SEC official said.

Owing to the massive scale of violence and and allegations of vote tampering on Saturday, the state election commission headed by Rajiva Sinha was forced to order a repoll in affected booths in all but three districts of Bengal.

According to the officials, barring minor incidents, the re-polling ordered by the state election commission in 696 booths in 19 districts of Bengal passed off peacefully with 69.85-per cent of all eligible voters casting their ballots till 5 pm.

The repolling started at 7 am amid tight security with at least four central forces personnel deployed in each booth, besides state police.

On Saturday, July 8, voting started at 7 am in 73,887 seats in the rural areas of the state with 5.67 crore people deciding the fate of around 2.06 lakh candidates.

Till 5 pm, 66.28 per cent voter turnout was recorded, officials said.

As per media reports, around 5.67 crore voters were to exercise their franchise to choose representatives for nearly 928 seats across 22 zilla parishads, 9,730 panchayat samity seats and 63,229 gram panchayats seats. 

Ahead of the 2024 parliament elections, the panchayat election, which includes nearly 65 per cent of the state's population, is serving as a litmus test for the state's political parties and it also holds the power to reshape the entire political scenario of the state. 

This election is also an opportunity for the parties to evaluate their booth-level organisation ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, as most of the 42 parliamentary seats are situated in rural areas of the state.

There are 63,229 gram panchayat seats and 9,730 panchayat samiti seats in 22 districts, while 928 zilla parishad seats in 20 districts as Darjeeling and Kalimpong have a two-tier system with Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) and Siliguri Sub-divisional Council at the top.