ABSTRACT West Bengal, in comparison to other states of India, witnesses large-scale political violence throughout the year which, however, sees an upswing particularly during the time of elections. Nonetheless, apart from a few sporadic mentions, such violence is yet to get scholarly attention. Based on my longitudinal ethnography (2008–2017) in four Gram Panchayats – the lowest to the three-tier local governance system, I show the ways in which political polarization and violence occupy a dominant position in everyday village life of the state. I show that while domains of dominance-subordination and hate speech shape much of the discursive spheres of the state, people, through a variety of formal and informal channels, tend to depend on political party and panchayat. Such politico-economic dependence, development of hooligan dominated political control, and continuation of violence through direct and subtler means are some of the major roots of violence.

中文翻译：

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一个印度国家的党民与地方治理：关于选举暴力根源的纵向研究

摘要 与印度其他邦相比，西孟加拉邦全年都见证了大规模的政治暴力，然而，尤其是在选举期间，这种暴力会有所上升。尽管如此，除了一些零星的提及外，这种暴力还没有得到学术界的关注。基于我在四个 Gram Panchayats 中的纵向民族志（2008-2017）——最低到三层的地方治理系统，我展示了政治两极分化和暴力在国家日常乡村生活中占据主导地位的方式。我表明，虽然支配-从属和仇恨言论领域塑造了国家的大部分话语领域，但人们通过各种正式和非正式渠道，往往依赖于政党和市政厅。这种政治经济依赖，