Berhampur, July 7: Urging the people of rural Bengal to exercise their franchise in the panchayat elections without fail, West Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose on Friday said he would be on the streets along with his team during polling.
The governor described Saturday’s panchayat polls as a “fight between ballots and bullets” and said that he would monitor the situation throughout the state and take corrective measures.
“(Tomorrow) I will be on the road. I will be with my team. For the last few days, the Raj Bhavan was a Mobile Raj Bhavan tomorrow before the voting begins, I will be on the roads. After the voting ends, I will go back. In between, I will also visit the Peace Room to see what is happening throughout the state and to take corrective measures to the extent I am entitled to do so,” Bose told reporters here.
Talking about his role on the polling day, Bose said that he would ensure that the interests of the public are protected and that Constitution is followed by everyone.
“I have a role to see that constitutional colleagues get the facilitative environment to exercise their powers. I am here to see that the interests of the public are protected. That is what I do before the election, during the election and after the election,” he said.
Bose urged the people to vote on Saturday and said that if they exercise their franchise then that would act as an umbrella for the future. On the ruling Trinamool Congress allegation that he is running around the state to gain publicity, the governor said, “Yes, I agree with them. I am doing this for publicity, publicity and publicity alone. To publicise the right of the common man, sanctity of the Constitution, to publicise that human right which is supported by the common man’s will cannot be suppressed by any political propaganda. I will seek publicity till the end to popularise what is democracy.”
Around 5.67 crore voters are likely to exercise their franchise to choose representatives for nearly 928 seats across 22 zilla parishads, 9,730 panchayat samities, and 63,229 gram panchayats seats on Saturday. (PTI)
