Ballot, Bullet and Blood

Email

Whatsapp

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Copy link

It is a pleasure to finally see a book which highlights and brings out in detail the extent of post poll violence in the State of West Bengal, consequent to the Assembly elections of 2021. The extent of violence was unimaginable and, what is worse, it affected the very poor and the most vulnerable. The book highlights the unimaginable and specifically targeted violence which became the order of the day. It brings before the world the ferocity and the impunity with which the violence was carried out in front of the world, sometimes in apparent collusion with the state machinery. Ironically, the media has failed to highlight the "political cleansing" of opponents, contrary to the fundamentals of our Constitution. It is laudable that the judiciary has stood up as the last refuge of human rights and rule of law and has ordered investigation into the orchestrated violence which had become the order of the day. This book is an excellent effort by Shubham Tiwari and Shivam Raghuwanshi to catalogue the atrocities and to inaugurate to the wider reading audience and the world, the undercurrents including communal ones which were the motivating factors of the carnage. Congratulations to them! More truth and power to Shubham and Shivam in this endeavor.

Shubham Tiwari is a Law Graduate from National Academy of Legal Studies and Research (NALSAR), Hyderabad. He is also a regular columnist with newspapers, magazines and digital media portals, including Swarajya and Organiser. His research interests include Law & Religion, Culture and Politics. Shubham comes from Unnao District in the State of Uttar Pradesh.

Shivam Raghuwanshi is a practicing advocate at the Supreme Court of India and the Delhi High Court having wide interests in Public Policy, History, Culture and Politics. Shivam graduated with a BA LLB (Hons.) degree from Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law, Patiala where he was involved in various organisational activities and had also successfully organized an edition of TedxRGNUL as License Holder. He has also worked as a student activist and researcher in West Bengal for two years. He has co-authored the book Political Killings in Mamta's Bengal and jotted down his experiences with the victims of post-poll violence in the book.

At the heart of the legitimacy accorded to India's democracy is free and fair elections supervised by an independent Election Commission. The system came into existence at the time of the country's first general election in 1951-52 and, with some modifications in rules, has persisted till now. Indeed, it can be claimed with a measure of pride that the rough edges of the election process have progressively been ironed out. The system isn't perfect in many respects but the will of the people has been captured in the electoral outcomes.

An election-whether state or national-that covers a vast expanse of territory and involves crores of voters is, however, entirely dependent on a pre-existing political culture. If the democratic traditions are robust, the election process-which includes a spirited campaign involving multiple candidates and political parties-is guaranteed a smooth conclusion. However, a distorted political culture creates many complications that range from intimidation of voters, large scale impersonation, booth capturing and malpractices during the counting of votes.

Book's Contents and Sample Pages