The three-tier panchayat elections of Siliguri Mahakuma Parishad (SMP) which was held in rural areas of Siliguri subdivision on Sunday remained largely peaceful, barring a few skirmishes and altercations.
Voter turnout was satisfactory. Till 5pm, around 78 per cent of the 5.27 lakh voters who dwell in the four blocks of the sub-division had cast their votes, said sources in the administration.
The last SMP elections were held in 2015.
Earlier on Sunday, tension cropped up at a booth in Bagdogra Balika Vidyalaya, which is under Lower Bagdogra panchayat and Naxalbari block, as Trinamul supporters alleged that a BJP candidate had been trying to influence the voters who were standing in the queues. This made the supporters of the saffron camp object. An altercation ensued and soon, both the groups got into a scuffle.
Later, local BJP leaders claimed that Trinamul supporters didn’t allow their polling agents to enter the booths set up at the school and as they protested, they were beaten up.
A similar incident occurred at a booth in Phansidewa block when supporters of Md. Akhtar, a disgruntled Trinamul leader who is contesting as an Independent in a seat of the SMP, alleged that Trinamul supporters had beaten them up.
“Trinamul cadres are trying to influence the voters (against me). This is because they know that if the elections are held in a fair manner, the results would be in my favour,” claimed Akhtar.
Ahead of the SMP elections, Akhtar claimed that he had resigned from Trinamul as the party gave a ticket to Ainul Haque instead of him . Trinamul leaders later, however, had claimed that they had expelled Akhtar from the party for violation of rules.
Madan Bhattacharya, a Trinamul leader based in Siliguri who was deputed by the party to monitor the elections, however said there has hardly been any unsavoury incident.
“Like the elections of Siliguri Municipal Corporation, the rural polls today(Sunday) have remained peaceful. Like the civic polls here, we will prove again that our party has won the elections through a genuine political contest,” he said.
Throughout the day, a huge presence of tea workers and their families were witnessed at the polling booths spread across the SMP area.
Many political observers interpreted this turnout as a response to the state’s recent announcement of an interim hike where their daily wages would be increased by 15 per cent.
Earlier, chief minister Mamata Banerjee had made the announcement while speaking at a public meeting in Alipurduar district.
On June 14, the state labour department had come up with a notification, mentioning that the wages of workers and the salaries of the staff and sub-staff employed in tea gardens would be revised with retrospective effect from January 2022.
“There are 47 tea estates in the SMP area and votes of the tea workers and their families can decide the results in a number of seats in all three tiers of the elections. The high presence of the tea population in the polling booths, which also helped in pushing the poll percentage close to 80, is significant. It indicates that the tea workers are happy with the interim hike that has increased their daily wage from Rs 202 to Rs 232,” said an observer.
Alok Chakraborty, a veteran trade union leader and the chairman of the Darjeeling (plains) district Trinamul, said the array of social welfare schemes, said that the wage hike and the free housing scheme introduced by the Mamata Banerjee government had helped them draw support from the voters in the tea gardens.
“We are confident of securing the rural body this time. The tea population is with us,” he said.
Along with nine seats of the Siliguri Mahakuma Parishad's uppermost tier, elections will also be held in 66 seats of four panchayat samitis and in 462 seats of 22 village panchayats. Over 1,800 candidates are contesting the elections in all these three tiers.
The SMP was formed back in 1989, after the dissolution of Darjeeling Zilla Parishad when the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council in the hills came into being.
