Common people will be the winner after panchayat polls: Bengal Governor

Kolkata: West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose on Monday said that after the July 8 panchayat polls are over, the real winners will be the common people.

"The polls will be conducted peacefully and after the polls are over the poll-bearers will be disappointed as the elections will results into victory of the people," he said after the inauguration of the "Peace Room" at the Raj Bhavan on Monday through which the Governor's House will directly monitor the development over the rural civic body polls in the state.

The Governor took the decision to open the "Peace Room" at the Raj Bhavan after returning from his visit to Canning in South 24 Parganas district on Saturday.

Throughout the last week, Canning was in the headlines following sporadic clashes over the nomination process for the rural civic body polls.

A notification has also been issued by the Raj Bhavan authorities informing that the people would be able to report incidents of violence directly at the "Peace Room" through telephone call or emails.

"In continuation of the frequent field visits of the Governor to the violence affected areas and in view of the numerous representations received from the citizens on the criminal intimidation in pre-poll Bengal, a help room has been opened in Raj Bhavan to respond to the grievances of the public. The Peace Room will refer the issues to the Government and State Election Commissioner for appropriate action," a statement issued by the Governor's House said.

An email id and 24X7 phone number has also been mentioned there through which the common people would be able to inform the Raj Bhavan about the incidents of violence.

Recently the Governor had also observed that during his field visit he has witnessed "deterioration in democracy" in different pockets of the state.

His statement has attracted strong reactions from the ruling Trinamool Congress whose leadership has accused the Governor of acting beyond his constitutional limits.