Elections for the Contai Cooperative Bank (CCB) were marred by chaos and violence on Sunday, as tensions between Trinamul Congress (TMC) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) supporters escalated. Despite a peaceful start to the day, unrest broke out later at several polling stations, including Kolaghat, Ramnagar and Heria, resulting in chaotic scenes and heated confrontations.
The elections, conducted under the supervision of Central forces as per a Supreme Court directive, saw allegations of poll rigging and intimidation fly thick and fast between the two rival parties. TMC and BJP workers clashed outside polling stations, with verbal spats turning into physical confrontations. The Supreme Court had earlier ordered the deployment of Central forces and installation of CCTV cameras at polling booths to ensure transparency, following allegations from Shankar Bera, a former chairman of Erga municipality and one of the candidates. Bera claimed the TMC had strategically shifted polling booths to remote villages to facilitate malpractice.
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BJP leader Soumendu Adhikari, MP from Contai and brother of Suvendu Adhikari, welcomed the court’s decision. “The ruling party resorts to rigging, whether it’s panchayat polls or local body elections. This order was necessary to protect voters,” he said. The TMC, however, dismissed the BJP’s allegations, claiming the violence was a deliberate attempt to disrupt the election process. TMC leaders alleged that the BJP was stoking unrest in fear of losing the polls. The polls hold significant political weight, as the CCB is eastern India’s largest urban cooperative bank with 16 branches.
The bank has been a longstanding power base for Suvendu Adhikari, the Leader of the Opposition in West Bengal, whose family maintains influence in Contai. Adhikari was removed from his position as CCB chairman in 2021 after the TMC government initiated probes into the operations of cooperative banks under his leadership. The unrest surrounding the CCB elections mirrors a larger pattern of political volatility in the state. Just days before, a TMC worker was murdered during elections for the Tamluk Cooperative Agriculture and Rural Development Bank, and clashes erupted between TMC and BJP supporters in Nandigram.
Despite the violence, polling for the 108 posts in the CCB governing body continued under tight security, with allegations and counter-allegations overshadowing the democratic exercise. The results are expected to further shape the intense rivalry between the two parties in a region already marked by political polarization.
