Elections in West Bengal are always politically charged affairs. But the recent elections to the Panchayati Raj, the local self-governing bodies, were even more tempestuous than usual. These polls were particularly significant because they came in the wake of a period of notable political turmoil in West Bengal. Over the past three years, the state has been rocked by violent disputes over land acquisition; a scam in the Public Distribution System, which provides foods at subsidised rates; the mishandling of the bird-flu epidemic; the mysterious suicide of a young Muslim computer worker named Rizwanur Rehman, allegedly involving top industrialists and policemen; and the furore over extending Taslima Nasreen's visa. Adding to this volatile mix has the state government's controversial policy regarding industrialisation. All in all, this is the first time in the Left Front's 31-year rule that so much dissent has been publicly articulated in its bastion of rural Bengal.
The Panchayat polls were held in three phases, on 11, 14 and 18 May. These corresponded to the three-tier Panchayat system: the Gram Panchayat, representing a cluster of villages; the Panchayat Samity, covering a block; and the apex Zilla Parishad, at the district level. The Left Front retained control of 13 of the 17 Zilla Parishads (two fewer than in 2003), winning 519 out of 748 seats or almost 70 percent. It also won 57 percent of Panchayat Samity seats and 51 percent of Gram Panchayat seats. Though this represents a majority in all three tiers, it is nowhere near the 85 percent of Panchayat Samity and 71 percent of Gram Panchayat seats that the Front won in 2003. While it would be hasty to jump to the conclusion that it is a complete electoral rejection, the results certainly indicate chinks in the Left Front's armour.
To understand why the Panchayat elections are so important, it is necessary first to understand how the system was introduced, and how it functions. In 1978, West Bengal was the first state to hand over implementation and maintenance of rural projects to elected bodies of local self-government. Since then, elections to this three-tiered system have been held every five years. In the past, the Left Front has won an overall majority in every election, due largely to the mass support base provided by the Communist Party of India (Marxist). (The Left Front itself is an alliance of several left parties, currently comprising the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the Communist Party of India, the Revolutionary Socialist Party, the All India Forward Bloc, the Revolutionary Communist Party of India, the Marxist Forward Bloc, the West Bengal Socialist Party, the Democratic Socialist Party and the Biplobi Bangla Congress.)
For the past three decades, these local-body elections have been used by the Left Front to sink deep roots into the state's rural areas, and to create an interface between the electorate and the government. But, says Debabrata Bandopadhyay, former state Land Reform Commissioner, "The LF government has not devolved any significant power to the Panchayats." In fact, far from empowering villagers at the local level, the Panchayati Raj system has become a "wide nexus of corruption", according to Manoj Bhattacharya, former MP and spokesperson of the Revolutionary Socialist Party. "If people oppose the ruling party, then they are deprived of the amenities provided by the Panchayat system." Now, the past failures of this system, coupled with the public anger that has arisen over the past year due to land acquisition, could well have turned some of the tide.