NEW DELHI: West Bengal governor C.V. Ananda Bose on Monday met Union home minister Amit Shah at North Block here and apprised him about the violence in the state during the panchayat election that was held on Saturday, sources said.
“The darkest hour is just before dawn. There will be light at the end of the tunnel. The only message I could get today is that if winter comes, can spring be far behind? Good will happen in the days to come,” Bose told reporters when asked what had transpired at the meeting, which lasted for more than half an hour.
The sources also said Bose briefed Shah about the prevailing situation in the state and his assessment of the polls marred by violence which claimed nearly 20 lives.
During the local body election in West Bengal, the governor had visited various places, particularly in North 24 Parganas district, and took stock of the situation on Saturday during the polling. He had met the family of an injured person and also visited him at hospital too.
There was widespread violence during Saturday’s polling held in over 61,000 booths for the three-tier panchayat elections. Several ballot boxes were looted from the polling booths and were set on fire or dumped in ponds at many places during the violence.
The results are due to be announced on Tuesday, July 11, but the Opposition parties, including the BJP, CPM and the Congress, had demanded a repoll at a large number of polling booths.
The repolling was held on Monday at 696 booths in 19 districts on the direction of the State Election Commission, following allegations of tampering with ballot boxes and the violence, sources said.
The cycle of violence had been escalating since June 9, finally reaching its peak on polling day. Within the past month, 36 people lost their lives in the lead-up to the panchayat polls.
