West Bengal Panchayat Election 2023: Sweets With Party Symbols is a New Attraction in North Dinajpur

‘Sandesh’ weighing five to fifty grams is being sold for just Rs 10 by Ghosh Sweets, a shop located at the Rashidpur intersection of Kaliaganj in North Dinajpur district.

Symbols of Trinamool Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), CPI(M) and Congress can be found imprinted on ‘sandesh’ at this shop ahead of the July 8 panchayat election.

Rajiv Ghosh, the owner of the shop, said, “I am always very particular about everything. I always make different types of sweets at my shop during various festivals. So, why should I be left behind in the biggest festival of democracy? So this time I have prepared different types of sweets with the symbols of different political parties. In his shop, one can find sweets with party symbols of Trinamool Congress, BJP, Congress and CPI(M).”

A customer, from Raiganj at the shop, said, “It is a novelty that this kind of sweet is prepared in this shop keeping in view of the panchayat election.”

Around 5.67 crore voters are likely to exercise their franchise in the polls to elect nearly 75,000 candidates in zilla parishads, panchayat samiti and gram panchayats. In the rural polls held five years ago, the TMC won 90 per cent of the panchayat seats and all 22 Zilla Parishads. However, these elections were marred by widespread violence and malpractices, with the Opposition alleging they were prevented from filing nominations in several seats across the state.