While results in some seats are awaited, Trinamool has emerged as the clear winner
The panchayat elections in West Bengal, though marred by violent clashes between rivals, also featured bizarre acts by candidates desperate to win and unwilling to accept defeat.
A CPM candidate in North 24 Parganas district has alleged that his Trinamool Congress rival ate a bunch of ballot papers once he started trailing. The counting at the booth of Bhurkunda panchayat block was suspended thereafter. The Trinamool has said there is no proof to back the allegation.
Speaking to local media, CPM's Rabindranath Majumdar claimed that he had won the election by four votes. "They (Trinamool) did not even ask for recounting. Mahadeb Mati (Trinamool's candidate) entered the booth, took a bundle of ballot papers from my box and started chewing them. He also threw some of them around and then left," a shocked Mr Majumdar said.According to reports, the administration is yet to announce a winner.
In another incident at Coochbehar in north Bengal, BJP workers reportedly started what can be best described as a relay race with a ballot box.
Accusing the ruling party of rigging the election, BJP workers at a booth in Mathabhanga reportedly lifted the ballot box and fled the booth. The box changed hands, like in a relay race, as villagers chased it.
At a panchayat area in New Town near Kolkata, Trinamool workers allegedly threw a ballot box in a drain.
In another booth, also in North 24 Parganas, a Trinamool worker, anticipating the party candidate's defeat, fled with the ballot box and jumped into a pond.
The incidents capture the utter chaos that marked the rural polls in Bengal this time, like in the past. Like in previous elections under previous regimes, political violence in the rural polls has claimed around 40 lives.
While results in some seats are awaited, the Trinamool has emerged as the clear winner, with the BJP finishing a distant second.