A BJP candidate has won uncontested at a gram panchayat seat in South Dinajpur district, a rare development in Bengal’s panchayat polls.
On Saturday evening, after administrative officials finished scrutinising all the nomination papers submitted by candidates, it was found that Aparna Barman, the BJP candidate who had filed her papers from Nakoir booth of Udaygram panchayat under Gangarampur block of the district, had emerged as a winner much ahead of the July 8 polls.
Barman had no rival contestant in her seat.
“It is certainly an achievement for us. At a time when Trinamul is resorting to intimidation of panchayat poll candidates of the parties in the Opposition, including the BJP, this is indeed good news,” said Swarup Choudhury, the BJP president of South Dinajpur district.
Trinamul sources said they had fielded a candidate for the seat but that particular nomination was cancelled over a technical snag.
According to Trinamul leaders, in Udaygram panchayat, two seats have the same name but different numbers to tell them apart.
“We had fielded two candidates for each but both the persons in their nomination papers cited the same number by mistake,” a Trinamul insider said.
“This duplication resulted in the cancellation of the nomination of one of our candidates during the scrutiny process. So, there was no Trinamul nominee in one seat. Hence, the BJP candidate (Aparna Barman) could win uncontested from there,” he added.
As the news spread, local BJP leaders reached Barman’s house with sweets to celebrate her uncontested victory.
Subhash Chaki, a vice-president of Trinamul in South Dinajpur district, said that the BJP had no reason to celebrate Barman's uncontested win.
“Our party has already won uncontested in several seats in the state as Opposition parties could not find suitable candidates to contest in those places,” Chaki alleged, adding that at least two such uncontested victories of Trinamul nominees were from his district.