Alleging widespread irregularities and violence during the recently concluded panchayat election, the West Bengal BJP unit on Wednesday took out a mega rally in Kolkata. Even though the police did not give any formal permission for the rally, the senior BJP leadership, including Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, State BJP president Sukanta Majumdar and party national vice-president Dilip Ghosh participated in it.
The procession from College Street to Esplanade was a show of strength of the saffron party which has registered a sharp decline in the panchayat election — from 38% in the 2021 Assembly poll to 22 % in the recently concluded rural polls.
“During the three-stage panchayat polls, there was loot at all the three stages, from filing nomination papers, to elections to even the counting of votes. We will protest against this. I would urge the party president to organise protests in the villages where people could not vote,” Mr. Adhikari said. Mr. Majumdar announced that on Friday, the BJP supporters will lay siege outside the office of the Block Development Officers (BDOs) in the rural habitations of the State.
