Filmmaker-activist Aparna Sen has written an open letter to Mamata Banerjee, holding her and her government responsible for the violence in the panchayat polls that claimed "52 lives".

Sen in her letter put the number of deaths at 52. Multiple sources have estimated the rural poll toll to be over 60.

Sen read out the letter on Thursday at an event organised by the Association for Protection of Democratic Rights in the city.

Addressing Mamata, Sen read: "You are the chief minister and home minister of West Bengal. Without overseeing the constitutional responsibility of the election commission, one can definitely say that the panchayat poll-centered killings and anarchy were primarily the responsibility of the West Bengal government and you. You cannot deny this responsibility as the home minister of West Bengal."

Sen had been one of the key proponents of poriborton or change of guard in Bengal in 2011. Her letter comes a day ahead of Martyrs' Day observed on July 21 every year by Trinamul.