Mamata Banerjee on Friday questioned the Opposition — primarily the BJP — over the spate of violence that marked the 2023 panchayat poll process.

The chief minister said most of those killed were from her party, the Trinamul Congress.

“Each and every death during the panchayat election is tragic and upsetting. Fifteen people were killed on the poll day. Out of 29 deaths during the poll process, 18 were Trinamul workers. Will Trinamul murder Trinamul? What do my BJP friends say?” Mamata asked, addressing lakhs of supporters at the Martyrs’ Day rally in Calcutta.

Mamata claimed that among those killed during the election period, only three were of the CPM and two of the BJP. Mamata said her government did not discriminate while reaching out to the victims’ families and offered both monetary compensation and a government job to the next of kin of those killed.

“The state government is probing each and every case (of death), we have also given compensation of Rs 2 lakh each to the families of those who have died in the clashes. Not just that, we are also giving the job of special home guard to one member of each victim’s family, irrespective of political identity. The victims might be from the CPM, the Congress or the BJP, but for me, they are our brothers or sisters,” Mamata added.

Mamata compared the 2023 poll violence to that during the Left Front years.

“I am really sorry for what happened. Now I would like to ask my CPM friends about the number of people killed in the run-up to the 2003 rural polls. It was 89. In 2008 rural polls, 39 persons were killed only on the day of the election,” she said.

Though Mamata claimed 29 people died during the poll process this time, the unofficial toll is over 60.

Of the 60 killed, Trinamul workers account for at least half. The BJP has laid claim to 11 deaths, the Congress eight, the Left five and the ISF four. Mamata did not mention the Congress while referring to the deaths.

A notable feature of the violence this time was the “resistance” that the BJP, the Congress and the CPM allegedly put up against Trinamul in their respective strongholds across Bengal. Such a phenomenon during local body elections was last seen in Bengal in the 2008 rural polls when then ruling Left Front bore the brunt of “resistance” by the ascending Trinamul.

Mamata remained defiant to charges of rampant excesses against her party.

“The polls were held in 71,000-odd booths and violence took place merely at three booths. The three places are Bhangar, Islampur, Domkal and a few cases in Cooch Behar. In Domkal, they (the Opposition) won by force,” she said.

BJP spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said Mamata was "absolutely right" in saying that those from Trinamul number the highest among the dead. "That's because of Trinamul's factional feuds," he said. "This is why panchayat polls should have been conducted under the supervision of the central forces, because only they could have saved Trinamul from Trinamul."