Bengal Panchayat Polls Ground Report | No Campaigning, No Voting—Why Giria Has Given Up – News18

It’s a rough two-kilometre drive from the national highway 12 (NH-12) to this almost last village in West Bengal’s Murshidabad district. It took News18 about 40 minutes to reach Giria. The village cries for better infrastructure, including better roads.

Elections are a chance for people to demand better facilities.

But the 14 gram panchayats and three panchayat samitis of this area are deprived of this right. That’s because Giria has not voted since 2003.

The reason is, whether it was under the Left or now Trinamool Congress, the party in power in the state is the one that wins.

This time too, no one has filed nominations apart from the TMC, which has won.

Uttam Das, who runs a small shop next to the tiny empty gram panchayat office, tells me, “What’s the need? Work is happening. We don’t vote here and haven’t since 2008.” But when I show the state of the road, he just shrugs and walks away.

When News18 spoke to Raghunathganj’s block development officer (BDO) Debottam Sarkar, he said, “We don’t stop anyone. I am new here but no one has filed nominations.”

Even on the last day of campaigning in Raghunathganj, the area saw massive clashes between the TMC and CPI(M). Poll violence has become a big issue in these panchayat elections and the TMC has often been accused of intimidation and not allowing rivals to file nominations.

Giria panchayat consists of five villages: Giria, Bhairabtala, Labonchoa, Nirmala and Chandpara.

Complaints of intimidation go unreported in Giria as the drive from the main highway to the village is very rough, and roads are yet to be made.

In fact, a bamboo bridge acts as the connection from here to the main road and it takes the police at least 30 minutes to reach the place.

It’s an issue that is now accepted with a sense of resignation. Till there is no competition, residents of Giria have little hope for change.

As we crossed through the area, we barely saw any posters and only one scooter with a TMC flag. There is no campaign and it’s just another day for the people of Giria.