India’s federally ruling Bharatiya Janata Party( BJP) has formed a four members fact-finding committee with Ravishankar Prasad as its convenor to investigate the allegations of widespread violence during West Bengal panchayat elections.
The committee started visiting the areas affected by violence during the West Bengal panchayat elections from Wednesday, July 12th, onwards to probe the matter.
The committee will submit its report to President Droupadi Murmu, Prasad informed the press. Before leaving for West Bengal, he informed the press that this team will visit all the affected areas and meet all those who have suffered the violence.
“BJP National President JP Nadda has appointed a team of Parliamentarians, of which I am the convener, which is going to visit all the areas affected by rampant violence, killing, bomb blast in the wake of gram panchayat elections in Bengal. We propose to visit all the affected areas, meet those who are tortured and victimised”, said the member of the Parliament (MP).
Prasad added, “Why should more than 40 people lose their lives in the gram panchayat election? Why are the so-called colleagues who are trying to forge an alliance against Narendra Modi maintaining a conspicuous silence? We will visit and submit our report to the president. I hope the Mamata government will allow us to visit the affected areas?”
While Prasad is the committee’s convenor, other members include former Mumbai police commissioner and Baghpat MP Satyapal Singh, Silchar MP Rajdeep Roy and Dhaurahara MP and party vice-president Rekha Verma.
Meanwhile, Suvendu Adhikari, the leader of the opposition in the state assembly, stated that he was gathering proof of purported election irregularities in hundreds of booths during Saturday’s voting for the West Bengal panchayat elections and will then file a case with the Calcutta High Court.
On the other hand, Trinamool Congress (TMC) state general secretary Kunal Ghosh alleged that the violence during the West Bengal panchayat elections was perpetrated by opposition parties.
“It is TMC that has suffered the most due to this Opposition-sponsored violence. Central forces did not arrive despite requisition by the SEC. Today’s poll has been peaceful and it proves that SEC has taken steps to control the situation”, Ghosh said.
Senior TMC leader and state minister Shashi Panja alleged that the BJP, the Indian National Congress (INC) and the Indian Secular Front (ISF) had been continuously instigating their workers in the run-up to the West Bengal panchayat elections. “Over 60% of people killed in violence belong to the TMC”, Panja claimed.
