Bolpur (West Bengal): Still two rounds of polling in West Bengal are yet to be held, but Mamata Banerjee seems to have reconciled to her defeat. Thus she has started preparing the ground to move the Supreme Court against the Election Commission. “Ebar ami eita niye Supreme Court Jabo (This time I am going to move the Supreme Court),” she said on EC’s alleged partisan approach. She said arresting Trinamool workers was in effect aimed to helping the BJP. And, perhaps, needless to say, she is resorting to refrains and language that is not used for the poll panel and rival political parties.
“Like Covid, we must take precautions against this Election Commission-BJP conspiracy,” Mamata told a televised press conference at Bolpur. “It’s BJP’s man-made plan, but it is being implemented by the Election Commission,” Mamata said in reference to the poll panel’s clear instructions to take firm and if unnecessary preventive actions to ensure smooth and free and fair polls. Taking her tirade against the poll body, West Bengal Chief Minister took her battle to a new plane and counselled party’s much-beleaguered leader Anubrata Mondal to take to the legal resort if he is ‘detained or kept under ‘observation’ by the Election Commission.
Needless to add, Mondal, Birbhum district Trinamool chief and her trusted lieutenant, is well known for muscle flexing politics. In fact, shortly after Mamata’s remarks, BJP state unit chief Dilip Ghosh, said, Anubrata Mondal is well known as a trouble maker year long, so if EC thinks he should be detained or kept under observation during polls, it should be done”.
Mamata Banerjee remarked: “They are very angry with him (Mondal). This time if they try to keep you under observation, go to the court. They cannot do this”. In visible signs of desperation, she prepared ground for post-May vote count wrangling and said she has already decided to move the Supreme Court against the Election Commission.
“….I have got copies of the messages exchanged between them (EC observers) and the officers. Some of our DMs and SPs are exceeding limits to keep them happy, following their orders. I won’t say anything now. After the polls I will take this up (move the Supreme Court),” she said. Six phases of polls are over in West Bengal and the last two rounds are to be held on April 26 and 29.
The Trinamool Congress has been pressing the poll panel right from the beginning to minimise the phases of polls and intensified the campaign further once the Covid19 pandemic storm swamped a large part of the country.
However, the Election Commission has ruled out such a scenario ostensibly because the Trinamool Congress-ruled state is vulnerable to polls related violence. The state polls have already got marred by sporadic incidents of violence and attack on voters.On April 10, five people died at Sitalkuchi i Cooch Behar district. Over 30 poll candidates of different parties have been assaulted in separate incidents from time to time including on the polling days.
One of them who died in Sitalkuchi was allegedly a BJP worker and four others – of Trinamool Congress – died in firing from central forces triggering major controversies in this year’s polls. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah – two major star campaigners for the BJP in the polls -should resign owing to widespread ramifications left by Covid19, she said. “The Election Commission could have held the polls in three phases. It was stretched to help the BJP win Bengal,” she could not conceal her frustration.
“One party’s lust for power (of BJP) has landed us in this situation. Why didn’t the EC listen to us? Why did elections have to be stretched to eight-phases, when it was known that Covid could spread,” Mamata said. Another BJP worker was allegedly murdered on April 23 night. The victim Kiranjan Ghosh was found hanging from a tree in Alinagar of Jamuria.
Rejecting Trinamool plea for clubbing last 2-3 phases of polls, the poll panel has said that such a scenario is not feasible as “each phase of election is distinct and notified separately under section 30 of the Representation of the People’s Act, 1951”.
They ruled out such a scenario ostensibly because the Trinamool Congress-ruled state is vulnerable to polls related violence. The state polls have already got marred by sporadic incidents of violence and attack on voters. On April 10, five people died at Sitalkuchi i Cooch Behar district. One of them was allegedly a BJP worker and four others – of Trinamool Congress – died in firing from central forces triggering major controversies in this year’s polls.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah – two major star campaigners for the BJP in the polls -should resign owing to widespread ramifications left by Covid19, she said. “The Election Commission could have held the polls in three phases. It was stretched to help the BJP win Bengal,”she could not conceal her frustration. “One party’s lust for power (of BJP) has landed us in this situation. Why didn’t the EC listen to us? Why did elections have to be stretched to eight-phases, when it was known that Covid could spread,” Mamata said.
Another BJP worker was allegedly murdered on April 23 night. The victim Kiranjan Ghosh was found hanging from a tree in Alinagar of Jamuria.
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