Sealed ballot boxes found in counting centre in Bengal’s Malda

Kolkata: Three sealed and uncounted ballot boxes were recovered from a high school at Gajol in West Bengal’s Malda district on Tuesday morning.

Sources said the boxes were kept in a classroom which was converted into a counting centre for the recently concluded rural elections.

Reacting to the recovery of the ballot boxes, Congress leader Pradip Bhattacharya said it only proves that the panchayat polls have been a farce in the name of democracy.

He said the sealed boxes should have been under the supervision of a returning officer, which is ideally the BDO.

"I demand strict action against the officer concerned as results have already been declared without counting the votes in those three boxes," Bhattacharya said.

Echoing the Congress leader, CPI(M) leader Tanmoy Bhattacharya also said the panchayat polls was a farce.

He said it shows the desperation of the ruling Trinamool Congress to wrest power in the rural countryside.

The TMC secured a massive victory in the July 8 panchayat elections.

It has won all the 20 zila parishads, bagging 880 seats, while its nearest rival BJP won 31 seats of the total 928.

The Congress-Left Front alliance secured 15 seats while others won the remaining two seats.

The ruling party emerged victorious in over 6,450 panchayat samiti seats. The BJP has won nearly 1,000 seats, while the CPI(M) and the Congress have won over 180 and 260 seats.

The TMC won over 35,000 gram panchayat seats out of the total 63,219. The BJP won nearly 10,000 seats, while the Left-Congress bagged about 6,000 seats in the elections that were marred by incidents of violence in various parts of the state.