The Opposition parties, which have been far more active in campaigning than the ruling Trinamul Congress in New Town, are urging voters not to stay away from the polling booths on Saturday.
The CPM has lodged three general diaries in police stations, alleging threats to three of its candidates, who are all residents of New Town proper.
“We have submitted a letter to the state election commission and the observer with the apprehension that a party that had cast the vote of the dead singer Dwijen Mukherjee in the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation election will resort to the same tricks in New Town. They might even have printed some false election photo identification cards,” said Saptarshi Deb, a member of the CPM district committee who is in charge of New Town.
He has noticed the banners that have come up asking for the boycott of votes. “Whoever has put up those banners should have the decency to reveal his or their name on the banners. If there is no attribution, there is no legitimacy to the call,” he said, adding that he feared the boycott call was the work of Trinamul Congress, conniving under a shadow. “This faceless campaign can only benefit Trinamul Congress. If there are Central forces present in every booth, they will be unable to indulge in large-scale rigging. So they are trying to keep genuine voters away by raising such calls,” he alleged.
He expressed confidence that those who had decided to vote would not be influenced by this “boycott gimmick”.
All the candidates contesting on BJP tickets strongly opposed the boycott call that seems to be gaining ground in New Town as they fear false votes would be cast in favour of the ruling party in case a large chunk of voters from New Town did not turn up to vote on Saturday. The candidates were attending a meeting near Balaka Abasan, in Action Area 1C on Sunday.
“We have faced immense pressure and received threats from other political parties ever since we filed our nominations, but we are in no mood to back out without a fight,” said Bijay Upadhyay, contesting in booth 292. His name is the most visible among the BJP candidates in the party’s poll graffiti on the township’s walls.
Pramita Ghosh, a resident of DD Block, argued that the polls should not be boycotted to prevent the ruling party from resorting to malpractice. She admitted that voting in panchayat polls “would not perhaps benefit the residents of the smart city directly, but it would prevent rigging”. She also spoke of “the inadequacies of the NKDA” in catering to the basic needs of the residents of New Town.
Deb, who is a resident of BF Block in New Town, objects to the high rate of property taxes in the township. “The tax rates are probably the highest in the NKDA area. A lot of people have been brainwashed into thinking if some areas in New Town are supposed to be under the panchayat, then one should not pay such high taxes. But the real issue is, why should one pay such high taxes at all? Compared to the kind of taxes we pay in New Town, we don’t get appropriate facilities,” he said.