Panchayat Polls: Trinamool cites high nomination filing by Oppn to rubbish claims of violence

Kolkata, June 17 While the opposition parties in West Bengal are accusing the ruling Trinamool Congress of unleashing massive violence during the nomination filing for the July 8 panchayat elections in West Bengal, the Trinamool leadership on Saturday rubbished the allegation quoting the high figures of nominations filed by the nominees of the opposition parties.

According to Trinamool spokesman Riju Dutta, had there been violence during the nomination filing phase unleashed by the ruling party, the figures of nominations filed by the opposition parties would not have been so high.

"While the combined opposition has filed around 1.5 lakh nominations, the figures of Trinamool stood at 85,000. If there is violence in West Bengal, is Manipur going through 'Amrit Kaal'? Whether it is a central force, KGB or MI6, no matter what they do, they cannot win the panchayat elections because the people of West Bengal are not with the opposition, but with Mamata Banerjee and Trinamool Congress," Dutta said.

However, state BJP spokesman Samik Bhattacharya does not agree with Dutta's argument.

According to Bhattacharya, the higher nominations by the opposition forces this time compared to 2013 and 2018 came because the common people resisted the goons backed by the ruling party.

"Trinamool tried its best to prevent nomination filing by the opposition. But this time they faced unprecedented resistance and retaliation from the people," he said.

In fact, while addressing a rally in South 24 Parganas district on Friday, Mamata Banerjee had claimed that the nomination filing process this time was more or less peaceful, and much better as compared to the Left Front regime.