Watch Nidhi Razdan: West Bengal's elections marred by bloodshed

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Transcript

00:00Well, the West Bengal panchayat results are out, and it has been a resounding victory

00:08for the Trinamool Congress that's won by a landslide, with the BJP coming a distant second

00:13and the left and the Congress coming third.

00:16It clearly establishes that the Trinamool is still in the pole position as far as Bengal

00:22is concerned, and that the BJP, interestingly, is now the principal opposition to it.

00:27But this entire election process, and even its results, have been overshadowed by unprecedented

00:33levels of violence that is unusual even for West Bengal, a state which has a history of

00:40political violence.

00:41As of last count, more than 45 people have been killed ever since the polls were announced

00:47in June.

00:48And even on polling day, there were a number of people and workers who were killed as people

00:53were going out to cast their vote in the panchayat polls.

00:57Many of those killed, ironically, have been Trinamool Congress workers themselves.

01:02Now all of this is something that is steeped in Bengal's political culture, because we've

01:06seen for decades, political violence, booth capturing, intimidation, is very much a part

01:12of what Bengal used to be, certainly in the 60s, 70s, and under the rule of the left front.

01:17What it proves is that nothing's really changed under Mamata Banerjee and the Trinamool.

01:22And this is not good for Bengal, and certainly not good for democracy.

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