This year’s assembly election in Bengal has been different in at least two aspects that are significant in their own ways. The first element pertains to high rates of voting. The voter turnout was over 91% during the second phase of polling on Wednesday; earlier, the first phase, too, had witnessed a spirited response from electors. The ruling Trinamool Congress and its principal challenger, the Bharatiya Janata Party, have, understandably, drawn their own inferences: these will be put to the test on the day of counting on May 4. The second, equally important, difference concerns a demonstrable dip in poll violence, a malady that has been a feature of elections in this state. Figures from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, an organisation that monitors conflict, suggest that the 2021 assembly elections were Bengal’s bloodiest, registering 300 incidents of violence and close to 60 deaths. Apart from sporadic incidents, such transgressions have registered a significant drop on this occasion. This can be attributed to a massive security bandobast. Over 2,300 companies of Central Armed Police Forces were deputed by the Election Commission of India for the polls while camera-fitted drones were pressed into service for the very first time. The challenge, now, would be to ensure that blood is not spilled in Bengal after the declaration of the results of what has been yet another polarising election.
But poll security must also be free of political imperatives. Calcutta’s mayor has stated that he received a nocturnal visitation from armed Central paramilitary personnel who, Firhad Hakim added, had warned him of consequences if Opposition workers were harassed on the day of the election. Bengal’s ruling party has also alleged that Central forces indulged in acts of intimidation. The Opposition, too, will undoubtedly have its own list of complaints. The veracity of such allegations must be established and action taken according to established protocol. A fair election implies nonpartisan conduct not only from contestants but also the election’s institutional overseers. A level electoral turf cannot be stomped upon by anyone in the name of preserving electoral security.