This year’s panchayat polls have presented Bengal with a study in contrast within a gap of two days.

While polling on July 8 was marked by violence and malpractices, largely because of the faulty deployment of security forces, Monday’s repolling in 696 booths across Bengal remained largely incident-free with the state election commission making full use of the central forces. The state police too played a vigilant and important role.

Opposition leaders claimed that the loss of lives on polling day — 18 people had died — could have been averted had the state poll panel succeeded in doing on Saturday even a fraction of what it managed on Monday.

“The repolling is going on peacefully,” state election commissioner Rajiva Sinha told reporters at his office around 5pm on Monday.

The voting began at 7am, with the state election commission having ensured the deployment of at least four armed paramilitary personnel at each of the 696 booths.

Apart from guarding the booths, central force jawans were also deployed on the roads leading to the polling stations to avert any unlawful assembly or plying of vehicles.

“In a clear direction to district magistrates and police chiefs, the state election commission asked them to provide adequate security personnel at all the booths on Monday to avert a repeat of Saturday,” a senior state government official said.

“As the polling process had been stopped on Saturday at most of these 696 booths because of violence, the police were asked to ensure a healthy voter turnout on Monday.”

The picture had been completely different on Saturday. “It was a farce in the name of security on Saturday, and that’s why 18 people were killed,” a senior police officer, who did not wish to be named, said.

Trinamul worker Anisur Ostagar had been killed at Basanti in South 24-Parganas on Saturday, allegedly by ISF workers. On Monday, police began visiting homes in the area since the morning as a confidence-building measure, asking people to vote without fear.

“A large number of voters in these areas were afraid to step out of their homes to vote a second time. So, police officers led by a deputy superintendent went to their doorsteps to assure them of security,” a district official said.

At many places, such as a polling station at Kalyani in Nadia, the police used hand mikes to request Opposition polling agents to represent their candidates at the booths.

At a booth in Jyangra, Rajarhat, the police took the help of the central forces to arrest a youth who had allegedly come to cast proxy votes.

The picture was no different in Cooch Behar, Hooghly, Birbhum or Murshidabad, where central force patrols drove away people who had gathered within 100 metres of the polling booths.

Opposition leaders questioned the contrasting roles played on Saturday and Monday by the state poll panel and the Bengal administration.

“If 20 per cent of today’s arrangement had been made on Saturday, polling would have been peaceful. Central force jawans were seen taking on Trinamul goons today,” leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari of the BJP said.

CPM leader Samik Lahiri said: “What was the problem in making similar arrangements on Saturday? Had that been done, so many lives would not have been lost. The deaths took place because (chief minister) Mamata Banerjee did not want a proper deployment of central forces (on Saturday).”

Although the repolling was broadly peaceful, reports of malpractice came from some places.

Sutapa Mistry, a CPM candidate at the Jyangra Hatiara II gram panchayat in Rajarhat, North 24-Parganas, accused Trinamul-backed goons of hurling bombs to scare off voters near a booth even in the presence of the state police and central forces.

She said that at least 5,000 Trinamul supporters had laid siege to the booth.

In North Dinajpur, suspected Trinamul supporters lobbed crude bombs to intimidate people and prevent them from voting at a booth in the Matikunda-II panchayat of Islampur block.

State police and the central forces rushed to the spot and brought the situation under control. Four people have been detained.

Additional reporting by Arkamoy Datta Majumdar and our north Bengal bureau