Panchayat elections in West Bengal took place on July 8 (File)
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday praised the BJP's performance in the West Bengal Panchayat polls despite the violence witnessed during the elections.
"Even bloodcurdling violence in West Bengal could not stop the BJP from putting up a stellar performance in Panchayat Election. The BJP nearly doubled its seat tally from the previous election, indicating a significant rise in the trust placed by the people," tweeted Amit Shah.
"This shows that the people's affection lies with PM @narendramodi Ji-led BJP, and will surely lead the party to meteoric heights in Lok Sabha and assembly polls," he said.
Mr Shah expressed his gratitude to the people of West Bengal and congratulated state unit chief Sukanta Majumdar and the party workers who remained steadfast despite adverse circumstances.
"My heartfelt gratitude to the people of West Bengal and many Congratulations to Shri @DrSukantaBJP, Shri @SuvenduWB and the Karyakartas who stood firm with the party despite mercilessly adverse circumstances," he tweeted.
Panchayat elections in West Bengal took place on July 8 and the votes for the 63,229 Gram Panchayat seats were counted on July 11.
Trinamool has won in 28,985 and BJP 7,764 seats while Congress has secured 2,022 seats so far. Trinamool was leading on 1,540 seats while BJP was leading on 417, according to the State Election Commission (SEC).
CPM has won 2,409 seats and is leading in 260 seats. Other parties won 725 seats and leading on 23 seats, while independents which included Trinamool rebels won 1,656 seats and are maintaining a lead in 104 seats.
The elections were held under tight security, but the voting day was marred with widespread violence, looting of ballots papers and alleged rigging.
There were reports of booth capturing, damaging of ballot boxes and assault of presiding officers from several districts. Reports also emerged of ballot boxes being set on fire and clashes between political parties in different locations.
Re-polling was held in 697 booths across 22 Zilla Parishads, 9,730 Panchayat Samitis, and 63,239 Gram Panchayat seats in 19 districts of the state. The re-polling process was conducted under the supervision of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) without any reports of violence.
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