THE farcical election to the Kolkata Municipal Corporation has once again exposed the kind of ‘democracy’ being practised in West Bengal. On the day of voting on December 19, TMC gangs captured hundreds of booths and much of the voting process was hijacked. Hoodlums were mobilised from outside the city and entire localities were prevented from reaching to polling booths.

The results exposed wide-open this bulldozing of democratic rights of the people. In 34 wards, TMC candidates got more than 80 per cent votes. In another 44 wards, TMC got 70 to 80 per cent votes. Even in some wards, they got more than 90 per cent votes.

Here are some examples. In ward number 134, TMC candidate Shams Iqbal got 97.26 per cent votes. In most of the booths in this ward, opposition candidates even failed to register a single vote – meaning the voters failed to cast their votes at all. In ward number 35, TMC candidate got 93.7 per cent. In ward number 66, TMC candidate Ahmad Faiz Khan, son of state minister Javed Khan has got 87.93 per cent votes. His winning margin is more than 62,000, generally seen in Lok Sabha constituencies. In ward number 64, TMC candidate got 90.725 votes. Deputy mayor and TMC candidate Atin Ghosh got 88 per cent votes. In ward number 18, TMC candidate has got 89 per cent votes. In ward number 13, TMC candidate too got 88 per cent votes. In ward number 32, TMC candidate got 89 per cent votes. In ward number 54, TMC candidate got 91 per cent votes.

Details reveal the extent of loot on a mass scale. For example, in ward number 109 in Jadavpur area, TMC candidate has 88 per cent votes with a victory margin of 37,000. The booths were captured here from the very beginning. Entire area was virtually cordoned off by TMC gangs and people were scared enough not to go to booths. In booth number 139 of this ward, TMC got 1,009 votes, CPI(M) candidate not a single one. The ‘result’ is like this: booth number 140: TMC 1168, CPI(M) 1; booth number 141: TMC 965, CPI(M) 1; booth number 142: TMC 900, CPI(M) 2. The booths are contiguous indicating the area capture by the TMC gangs.

In ward number 35, the pattern is almost same. In booth number 27: TMC 838, CPI(M) 1; booth number 28: TMC 375, CPI(M) 0; booth number 26: TMC 686, CPI(M) 0. CPI(M) has come second in the ward.

TMC started terrorising many areas before the election day, which was accentuated from the evening before the poll day. CPI(M) polling agents were threatened with dire consequences if they venture out to the booths. It was systematic as TMC gangs moved from house to house and used mobile phones to threaten. Some of these, full of extremely foul language and unprintable abuses, were recorded. On the day of polling, TMC gangs entered the booths freely and chased away CPI(M) polling agents. In Jadavpur area, the situation was so worse that the candidates themselves were attacked and they were forced to sit on a road-blockade.  In many wards, CPI(M) candidates were forced to withdraw as the polling process was fully rigged. Women polling agents were molested within the booths. In ward number 20, the opposition candidate could not come out of his house as it was surrounded by TMC anti-socials from the morning. In ward number 67, the family of CPI(M) candidate went to vote just to be informed that their votes have already been cast. Many women voters were badly beaten. Bombs were thrown in Sealdah-Beleghata areas to chase away voters. Thousands of voters in the city faced common experience: after reaching booths they were told that their votes have been cast already.

The role of state election commission and the police was ridiculous. The election commission, from the very beginning, acted according to the TMC. And, police was silent spectator while the booths were being captured. What happened in the BJP-ruled Tripura municipal polls were replicated in the TMC-ruled West Bengal.

Whatever resistance and determination was evident, that came from CPI(M) and the Left Front. Left Front got 11.89 per cent votes, an increase from the state assembly elections. Left Front won in two seats and came second in 65 wards, while Congress came second in 17 wards. BJP, with 9.195 votes, came second in 47 wards. In fact, BJP was virtually absent in this election and the ‘binary’ between the TMC and the BJP was shattered in the results too. In some of the wards, where resistance could be built, Left candidates got 25 to 40 per cent votes.

Left Front has termed the election as ‘farce’. At the same time, it was evident that the people started accepting Left Front as the real alternative. A fair vote would show more advancement of the Left Front, the leaders asserted.