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PP RUEHBI RUEHCI
DE RUEHCI #0141/01 1281154
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 071154Z MAY 08
FM AMCONSUL KOLKATA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1985
INFO RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI PRIORITY 1863
RUEHBI/AMCONSUL MUMBAI PRIORITY 0864
RUEHCG/AMCONSUL CHENNAI PRIORITY 0859
RUEHKA/AMEMBASSY DHAKA PRIORITY 0578
RUEHKT/AMEMBASSY KATHMANDU PRIORITY 0566
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHMFIUU/CDR USPACOM HONOLULU HI
RUEHCI/AMCONSUL KOLKATA 2426

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KOLKATA 000141 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL IN
SUBJECT: VILLAGE ELECTIONS - THE FOUNDATION OF LEFT POWER IN WEST 
BENGAL 
 
REF: A) KOLKATA 66, B) 07 KOLKATA 345 
 
¶1.  (U) Summary: "Panchayat" (rural local self-governance 
bodies) elections in West Bengal are scheduled in three phases 
in May.  Violence between political supporters has flared in 
parts of the state and has reignited in Nandigram which has seen 
repeated classes between local villagers and Communist Party of 
India - Marxist (CPM) supporters.  The panchayat elections serve 
as the bedrock of power for the CPM in West Bengal, and allow 
the CPM and its Left Front partners to maintain a stranglehold 
over the rural electorate.  May 11, 14, and 18 are the scheduled 
dates for the elections, and despite efforts to criticize the 
CPM on its governance, West Bengal's Marxists should once again 
win resoundingly.  End Summary 
 
¶2.  (U) West Bengal's State Election Board announced the 
panchayat election dates, which are assigned by region.  May 11 
is the date for polling in the state's south and west districts 
of East Midnapore, West Midnapore, Bankura, Purulia and Burdwan. 
The central districts of Nadia, North 24-Parganas, South 
24-Parganas, Howrah and Hooghly will vote on May 14, and the 
northern areas of Cooch Behar, Jalpaiguri, North Dinajpur, South 
Dinajpur, Malda, Murshidabad and Birbhum vote on May 18.  The 
Darjeeling district in North Bengal is excluded from the 
panchayat electoral process as it has a separate local 
administrative arrangement and because of current instability 
(reftel a).  At the village level 41,513 Gram Panchayat seats 
will be contested, while 8,798 seats at the block level 
Panchayat Samiti and 748 seats at the district level Zilla 
Parishad are up for grabs. 
 
¶3.   (U) Already violence has flared in parts of West Bengal 
between political groups.  On May 5, Nandigram was again the 
scene of clashes between the local Bhumi Ucched Pratirodh 
Committee (BUPC) and CPM supporters.  In 2007 there were a 
series of violent battles between the BUPC, which was seeking to 
prevent the state's plans to acquire farmland for a Special 
Economic Zone (SEZ) and the CPM, which sought to assert its 
power in the area.  In the past week, the GOWB removed eight 
police camps from around Nandigram.  The police camps had been 
place since the last bout of violence in November 2007 to 
maintain law and order.  The state is now being accused by 
opposition groups of pulling the police out to allow the CPM a 
free hand in Nandigram.  In one reported incident on May 5, CPM 
supporters allegedly pulled a 35-year old woman out of her home 
at gun-point, stripped, beat and raped her in front of her 
children and husband.  The CPM also forced the family and other 
locals believed to be BUPC supporters to take part in a CPM 
demonstration. In addition, on April 30, CPM supporters fought 
with Trinamul Congress party loyalists in Cooch Behar, leaving 
one Trinamul Congress worker dead and 30 people injured. 
 
¶4.  (U) After the last panchayat elections in 2003 the CPM and 
Left Front held an absolute majority in all districts except 
Malda and Murshidabad.  In Malda both the Congress Party, and 
the Trinamul Congress/Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) combine fared 
well, while in Murshidabad the Congress won a majority.  This 
year, opposition party efforts to forge a "grand alliance" and 
prevent a division of non-Left votes generally have not 
materialized because of disputes over seat-sharing.  The Muslim 
JamiatUlemaeHind (JUH) leader Siddiqullah Chowdhury was a 
potential Trinamul ally, for example, but the two parties could 
not reach an accord.  The Trinamul Congress was able to garner 
the support of the leftist Socialist Unity Center of India 
(SUCI) and some smaller parties, but this will have little 
impact overall. 
 
¶5.   (U) Although at the national level the Congress Party 
receives Left support to maintain the UPA coalition, it opposes 
the Left Front in West Bengal, and has made some efforts to put 
a dent in the CPM's control of the state. On April 28, Congress 
President Sonia Gandhi addressed the rural public in Malda and 
Murshidabad and attacked the CPM for the Nandigram violence last 
year (reftel b). Seizing on current worries over food price 
increases, Gandhi added that the state government should ensure 
a properly functioning public distribution system and control 
black marketeering.  Interestingly, the BJP --a Trinamul 
Congress ally at the national level -- decided to exempt West 
Bengal from the BJP's all-India May 2 strike against inflation. 
West Bengal BJP representatives said it would add to people's 
woes as the state already "suffered" during a Trinamul strike on 
April 21. 
 
¶6.  (U) Comment:  Despite pockets of rural discontent over the 
state government's policy of acquiring agricultural land for 
industry, rising food prices, and compensation problems in 
handling the avian influenza epidemic, the Left is again poised 
 
KOLKATA 00000141  002 OF 002 
 
 
for success at the polls.  The Left's longstanding,  extensive 
network in West Bengal villages and heavy-handed control 
contrasts starkly with the opposition's limited presence and 
constant infighting.  Although a smaller Left Front partner, the 
Forward Bloc, had showed signs of wanting to break from the fold 
in the past, it has been firmly dealt with by the dominant CPM, 
leaving Left Front unity intact and its "poll machinery" 
prepared for a resounding victory. 
JARDINE