WB Panchayat polls: Governor CV Ananda Bose forms committee to maintain peace, social integration

Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], July 6 : Amid the ongoing violence in West Bengal prior to the Panchayat polls scheduled on July 8, Governor CV Ananda Bose on Wednesday constituted a committee primarily to look into the matter of maintaining peace and social integration in the state, said an official statement.
The Raj Bhavan issued a statement saying, "West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose forms a Peace and Social integration committee headed by former Chief Justice Calcutta High Court Subhro Kamal Mukherjee who has consented to be the interim Vice Chancellor of the Rabindra Bharati University (RBU)."
The statement also said that the committee will study the menace of violence in society and how it will affect the student community.
"The Committee will study the menace of violence in society, and how it will affect the student community, the future generation and the education system in the state of West Bengal," it said.
Earlier, Ananda Bose on Wednesday sent a sealed envelope to the State Election Commissioner (SEC) Rajiva Sinha which contained observations of his field visits to violence-hit areas in the state ahead of upcoming Panchayat polls.
Governor CV Ananda Bose on Monday criticised the ongoing violence in Panchayat polls and said that the violence can be described as politics of "murder", "intimidation" and of "muscle flexing".
Bose has been visiting various places where violence had earlier broken out in the state. "My visit to the field has convinced me that there is violence in certain pockets of West Bengal. There is a manifestation of what is called the politics of murder, the politics of intimidation, the politics of muscle flexing," he said.
Governor CV Ananda Bose said that his visits should not be construed as a "fault-finding mission" but a "fact-finding mission".
West Bengal has witnessed several instances of violence during the filing of nominations for the panchayat polls and thereafter. One incident involved the alleged hurling of crude bombs at a Block Development Office (BDO) in Ahmadpur, Birbhum district.
A TMC worker was also allegedly beaten to death in the Malda district. The panchayat elections will be held in a single phase, with the counting of votes scheduled on July 11.
The polls are likely to see a fierce tussle for control of local administrations between the ruling TMC and the BJP and will be a litmus test for both parties ahead of next year's Lok Sabha elections.