News Analysis India

Tag: Bengal Assembly elections

  • ‘Khela Hobe’ slogan returns as Kolkata’s Bhowanipore gears up to elect Mamata Banerjee in bypoll

    By Express News Service

    KOLKATA: Barely four months after a high-pitched electoral battle in the Assembly polls, mercury in West Bengal politics is soaring yet again as CM Mamata Banerjee is all set to contest from the Bhowanipore constituency on September 30 to get elected as an MLA and continue her term.

    The slogan ‘Khela Hobe’ (there will be a game)—coined by Mamata —has returned to the poll graffiti in the south Kolkata constituency.

    Minister Firhad Hakim and MLA Madan Mitra took to the streets to paint the walls in support of their party supremo.

    The by-election is said to be crucial to Mamata as she lost to BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari in Nandigram and she has a deadline till November 5 to get elected as an MLA.

    ALSO READ | Bengal bypolls: Trinamool begins campaigning; Congress undecided about fielding candidate against Mamata

    “My leader Smt @MamataOficial has been the MLA of Bhawanipur twice earlier. This time she is again going to be the MLA of this area! In the excitement of the run up to the elections, we stepped out on the streets painting walls in our locality to show our support. #AbarKhelaHobe,” Hakim tweeted.

    The Bengal chief minister took her upcoming electoral battle seriously and she cancelled her North Bengal visit shortly after the announcement of the by-election on Saturday.

    Mamata was elected twice in 2011 and 2016 from Bhowanipore but she decided to take on her former lieutenant Suvendu Adhikari, who defected to the BJP, in Nandigram.

    Though the area in East Midnapore district is a strong bastion of the TMC, Mamata lost by 1,737 votes because of the Adhikari family’s sway in the district.   

    Though the BJP said it would give Mamata a tough fight in Bhowanipur as the constituency has more than 20 per cent non-Bengal electorates which the saffron camp considers its vote-bank, the TMC effused confidence banking on the consolidation of Bengali-speaking voters.     

    Giant flexes and posters displaying Mamata’s photograph have already been put up along the Harish Mukherjee Road the locality of the chief minister’s residence.

    “Wining from Bhowanipore will not at all be tough for the chief minister. Women electorates will extend their support as they did in the Assembly elections and Bengali speaking voters already rejected BJP’s narrative and Hindutva rhetoric,” said a TMC leader in Bhowanipore.

  • West Bengal post-poll violence: Calcutta High Court orders CBI probe into murder, rape cases

    By Online Desk

    The Calcutta High Court on Thursday ordered CBI probe into murder, rape cases and formed SIT for other offences during post-poll violence in West Bengal.

    The five-judge bench said that the HC will monitor CBI, SIT investigations into post-poll violence cases and asked th ecentral agency to file report by six weeks.

    Earlier, taking note of an interim report by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on the post-poll violence in West Bengal, the Calcutta High Court had said that it prima facie appears to have caught the Mamata government on the wrong foot as the administration stayed in denial and tried to conceal more than reveal.

    Following a slew of petitions on post-poll violence, the bench had directed the NHRC on June 18 to constitute a committee to study the situation. 

    (This is a breaking news, more details awaited)

  • NHRC panel members probing post-poll violence share ties with BJP: Bengal govt in affidavit before HC

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: The TMC government in West Bengal has alleged in an affidavit filed before the Calcutta High Court that the NHRC committee which probed incidents of post-poll violence in the state “was fraught with bias against the ruling dispensation”.

    The affidavit, submitted to the court on Monday, also claimed that members of the panel share close ties with BJP leaders.

    Criticising the Mamata Banerjee government, the NHRC panel, in its report placed before the high court recently, has underscored that “the situation in the state is a manifestation of law of ruler instead of rule of law”.

    It recommended CBI probe into “grievous offences like murder and rape”.

    Contradicting the findings of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) panel, which was set up by its chairman on the order of the court — the affidavit submitted by the TMC government said, members of the committee “have close association with the Bharatiya Janata Party and/or the central government”.

    “The formation of the committee and the purported field teams are fraught with bias against the ruling dispensation in the state of West Bengal.

    “It will be evident that the committee has been deliberately constituted to spearhead a witch hunt against the entire state machinery in West Bengal,” the affidavit maintained.

    The matter is scheduled to be taken up for hearing on Wednesday by a five-judge bench of the high court, presided by Acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal.

    The state government, in its affidavit, has further claimed that the “NHRC “chairperson has abused the process of this honourable court and appointed only those members who are interested in conducting a hatchet job against a democratically elected government.”

    It said that such members who have an “inherent bias” against the ruling dispensation were chosen and accordingly “predisposed to give a negative report” on the law-and-order situation.

    Under such circumstances, the credibility of the panel to investigate in an “unbiased and neutral manner” is questionable, the state government pointed out.

    It noted that the committee head, Rajiv Jain, had served as the director of Intelligence Bureau under the incumbent BJP government.

    He was the subsidiary Intelligence Bureau chief in Ahmedabad from 2005 to 2008, when “Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat and Amit Shah a minister”, the affidavit explained.

    It said that another member Atif Rasheed, a former president of ABVP students’ union in Satyawati College, had contested the Delhi Municipal elections in 2021 on a BJP ticket.

    Contending that the state government was not given an opportunity to be heard, the affidavit said the “report ought not to be considered by this honourable court.

    ” Denying the allegation that the entire state machinery in West Bengal is responsible for post-poll violence, it submitted that the “police and all other competent officers of the State of West Bengal have taken all steps to prevent any violence after the declaration of results for the West Bengal State Legislative Assembly on May 2”.

    Several PILs filed before the high court claimed that people were subjected to assault, made to flee homes, and property was destroyed in pockets of Bengal, following the announcement of assembly poll results.

    Maintaining that the acts of violence resulted in disruption of life and livelihood of thousands of people, the NHRC committee report said “the local police has been grossly derelict, if not complicit, in this violence”.

    “The spate of violence shows a pernicious politico-bureaucratic-criminal nexus.

    Moreover, this violence also attacked some pillars of democracy including rule of law, political pluralism and free, fair and secure polling,” the report added.

  • BJP lost in West Bengal due to overconfidence of party leaders: Suvendu Adhikari

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: In his first public criticism after BJP’s defeat in the West Bengal assembly polls, Leader of Opposition in the State Assembly Suvendu Adhikari on Sunday said the BJP lost because of several leaders’ overconfidence that the party would get over 170 seats.

    At a party meeting in Chandipur area of Purba Medinipur district, Adhikari said this smugness and overconfidence led to lack of understanding of the emerging ground situation.

    “As we did well in the first two poll phases in these parts of assembly segments, many of our leaders became smug and overconfident.

    They started believing that the BJP will secure 170-180 seats in the elections, but they did not do the groundwork. This cost us dearly,” the TMC turncoat said.

    ALSO READ | Suvendu Adhikari attends hearing on Mukul Roy’s disqualification plea, says BJP may move court

    He said continuing work at the ground level was equally important as setting up targets, which was realistic but needed hard work.

    Reacting to Adhikari’s claims, Trinamool Congress spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said, “Suvendu has conveniently forgotten the slew of social welfare projects and a spree of development by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, and the mandate against BJP heavyweights’ sustained campaign against the CM and TMC.”

    “The BJP was living in a fool’s paradise as many of their leaders predicted that the saffron camp will cross 200 seats.

    Why he is finding fault with others? Didn’t Suvendu also boast repeatedly that his party will get 180 seats at least? Actually, they don’t know the pulse of Bengal, Trinamool does,” Ghosh, the state general secretary of the TMC, said.

  • Bengal CM, Governor in war or words over Dhankhar’s planned visit to post-poll hit areas

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: The chief minister and the governor of West Bengal got involved in a war of words on Wednesday after Mamata Banerjee wrote to him claiming that his planned visit to post-poll violence-affected Cooch Behar district violates norms, while Jagdeep Dhankhar hit back saying he is discharging duties mandated by the Constitution.

    The governor is scheduled to visit areas affected by post-poll violence in Cooch Behar district on Thursday.

    On May 14, he will visit camps in Assam where some people from West Bengal have reportedly taken refuge due to the skirmishes.

    In her letter, Banerjee also alleged that Dhankhar, exceeding his power, has been directly communicating with state government officers and dictating them, though she had earlier requested him to refrain from doing so.

    The governor, in his reply, urged the chief minister to commit herself to the Constitution as she has taken an oath to uphold it.

    “I find from social media that you are unilaterally proceeding to Cooch Behar district on May 13 and, sadly, I find that to be violative of the long-standing norms as evolved over several decades.

    “I, therefore, would expect you will kindly follow the well-established norms of protocol, as stated above, and desist from abrupt decisions with regards to field visits,” Banerjee’s letter to Dhankhar read.

    Soon after receiving the letter, Dhankhar wrote back saying that he has been following the Constitution since taking oath as the governor and his visit to Cooch Behar was to share the pain and agony of the people suffering from post-poll violence.

    “(The) Constitution mandates me under Article 159 that I will to the best of my ability preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution and the law and that I will devote myself to the service and well being of the people of West Bengal.

    I would do all that is expected out of my oath and constitution,” Dhankhar said.

    The CM, in her letter, referred to the ‘Manual of Protocol and Ceremonials’ of the home department of the state government, which says that visits of governors are finalised by the secretary of the governor after obtaining the orders of the government.

    In the strongly-worded letter, Dhankhar said, “I am appalled that a leader of your stature should be even contemplating that in making visite the Governor has to obtain orders of the Government.”

    He said that he cannot persuade himself to subscribe to the stance reflected in the chief minister’s communication.

    “This is time to address the issues being faced by people in deep distress. I can assure you of my fullest cooperation within the constitutional parameters,” he added.

    Banerjee also referred to her letter written to Dhankhar on September 26 last year, in which she had urged him to “refrain from surpassing the Chief Minister and her Council of Ministers and communicating with and dictating the State officials, in excess of your power under the Constitution and directing them to attend before you”.

    The CM alleged that the governor is “steadily ignoring” this advice.

    At least 16 people, mainly from the BJP and the TMC, have been killed in post-poll violence in West Bengal and most of the killings were reported till May 3 when the law and order was under the Election Commission, Banerjee had said on May 6.

    Political clashes also left a number of people injured in the state since the results of the assembly elections were announced on May 2, when the TMC returned to power in a landslide victory.

    Earlier in the day, the ruling Trinamool Congress, which has shared an acrimonious relation with Dhankhar since its previous term in the government when he assumed office in July 2019, also flayed him saying he is behaving in a manner “unbecoming” of one holding the gubernatorial post.

    “Being a lawyer I cannot recall any another instance of a governor behaving in such a manner. I think it is aimed at influencing the judiciary as a case is being heard in the Calcutta High Court,” TMC MP Kalyan Bandyopadhyay told reporters.

    The HC is hearing a case on post-poll violence in the state.

    A PIL had been filed by a lawyer who raised the issue of violence taking place in various parts of the state after the state assembly elections.

    “Dhankhar is coming to disrupt the peaceful situation in Coochbehar,” state minister Rabindranath Ghosh, who hails from the north Bengal district, said.

    Countering the TMC’s charges, BJP spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya wondered why would the the ruling party object if the governor visits a place rocked by political violence and he wants to be on the side of the affected people.

  • All 77 BJP MLAs in West Bengal to have central security cover

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: All the newly elected 77 BJP MLAs in West Bengal are being provided security cover by central paramilitary forces in view of potential threats to them, official sources said on Monday.

    They said the Members of the Legislative Assembly will be secured by armed commandos of the CISF and the CRPF.

    The Union Home Ministry has approved the cover after taking into cognisance a report prepared by central security agencies and the inputs of a high-level fact finding team of officers that was sent to the state by the ministry in the wake of post-poll violence in the state, including that against the workers of the BJP, they said.

    Sixty-one MLAs out of the 77 will be covered under the lowest ‘X’ category and the commandos will be drawn from the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), as per fresh orders of the MHA, they said.

    The rest are either enjoying the central security cover or will be covered under the next higher category of ‘Y’.

    Fifty-year-old Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari is already a ‘Z’ category protectee of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), they said.

    “These persons face potential threat in the wake of post polls scenario in the state and hence they need to be secured,” a senior officer said.

    A number of other candidates, including some turncoats, who contested the assembly polls from the BJP ticket will also continue to have the central security cover for some more time, they said.

    The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has emerged as the main opposition party in the state, winning 77 seats in the 294-member house in the recently concluded polls where the TMC led by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee formed the government.

    While there can be 3-4 armed commandos under the ‘X’ category, the configuration increases to 6-7 under the ‘Y’ cover and the ‘Z’ category brings in about 6-9 commandos for the protectee.

    Both the CISF and the CRPF have specialised VIP security units in their establishment and they collectively provide security to over 140 personalities, ranging from central ministers, MPs and senior bureaucrats.

  • No political violence in Bengal since May 9: Government tells Calcutta High Court

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: The West Bengal government on Monday told a Calcutta High Court bench that there has been no post poll political violence in the state since May 9 and assured that all steps will be taken to ensure peace in future.

    The five-judge bench directed that all steps be taken in this regard by May 17 and posted the PIL for hearing on May 18.

    The PIL filed by lawyer petitioner Anindya Sundar Das raised the issue of violence taking place in various parts of the state after the state assembly elections in which the Trinamool Congress trounced BJP.

    Appearing for the West Bengal government, Advocate General Kishore Dutta submitted before the court that no violence has been reported in the state from May 9 onwards.

    He assured the court that all possible steps will be taken by the state government so that there is no violence in the future as well.

    ALSO READ | Narada sting operation: TMC leaders will emerge unscatched, says Firad Hakim

    Additional Solicitor General of India Y J Dastoor appearing for the central government submitted that the issue regarding post-poll violence was highlighted not by one political party, but by all of them.

    He claimed that in a number of cases the complaints were not registered by the police stations concerned when approached and that there is no online mechanism available in West Bengal where a police complaint can be filed.

    He said that number of complaints on post poll violence in the state have been received by the National Human Rights Commission, West Bengal Human Rights Commission, the National Commission for Women and National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

    Dutta argued that the allegation by the additional solicitor general that the complaints filed to the police were not entertained, is false.

    He said that he would seek instructions from the state government regarding availability of online mechanism for filing of complaints by any aggrieved person.

    The advocate general filed an affidavit before the court apprising it of the latest law and order situation in the state as per its earlier direction.

    A division bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal and Justice Arijit Banerjee on Friday had referred the PIL to the five-judge bench, which was constituted considering the importance of the complaint that life and liberty of the people in West Bengal is at stake.

    The five-judge bench comprises of Justices I P Mukerji, Harish Tandon, Soumen Sen and Subrata Talukdar, besides Justice Rajesh Bindal.

    The PIL has claimed that life and liberty of the people are in danger due to the alleged inaction by the police.

  • Bengal: Several new faces among 43 ministers likely to be sworn-in on May 10

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: Several fresh faces and a number of trusted lieutenants of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will be sworn-in as ministers at the Raj Bhawan in Kolkata on Monday, a source in the Trinamool Congress said.

    Altogether 43 ministers, including 19 ministers of state, are likely to take oath, the source said.

    One of them will be Amit Mitra, who was the finance minister under Banerjee in her two previous terms since 2011, but was not made a candidate in the recently concluded election due to his ill health.

    However, the TMC supremo wants Mitra back at the helm of the finance department and has plans to make him a member of the assembly through a by-election, the senior leader of the ruling party said.

    Though the TMC has won with a thumping majority in the recently held assembly election, Banerjee herself lost from Nandigram and she too needs to win a bypoll.

    Veteran leaders such as Subrata Mukherjee, Partha Chatterjee, Firhad Hakim, Jyoti Priya Mallick, Moloy Ghatak, Aroop Biswas, Dr Shashi Panja and Javed Ahmed Khan will be made cabinet ministers, the source said.

    There will be 24 cabinet ministers.

    New faces in the council of ministers will include former IPS officer Humayun Kabir, former Bengal Ranji captain Manoj Tiwari and Siuli Saha, he said.

    While Kabir will be among 10 persons who will become ministers of state (independent charge), Tiwari and Saha will feature in the list of nine MLAs who will be sworn-in as ministers of state.

    Banerjee is also scheduled to hold the first Cabinet meeting on Monday after the swearing-in ceremony, he said.

  • AIMIM or ISF no alternative; Muslims resposed faith in TMC to stop BJP juggernaut: Politicos

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: Muslims in Bengal have largely exercised their franchise in favour of the TMC, putting to rest all speculations over their voting pattern, as results showed that the AIMIM and newly floated ISF have failed to curry favour with members of the community.

    Veteran TMC leader Siddiqullah Chowdhury stated that the minority community knew well that Banerjee was the only person who could stop BJP’s juggernaut in Bengal.

    Voters from the community were unsure of reposing faith in the Sanjukta Morcha — an alliance of the Left Front, Congress and peerzada Abbas Siddiqui’s Indian Secular Front (ISF) — as ideologies of the three parties varied, he said.

    “At least 95 per cent of all Muslims in Bengal voted for Mamata Banerjee.

    My brothers and sisters from the community would have never voted for a communal force.

    They have clearly realised that Mamata didi is the only one that can fight communalism in West Bengal,” he told PTI.

    Chowdhury also asserted that Muslims had seen through BJP’s ploy to create divisions on religious lines.

    “I had said during my campaigns that Muslims will definitely prove more trustworthy than others.

    They will remain faithful to Mamata Banerjee,” the 71-year-old leader, who bagged the Monteswar seat with 1,05,460 votes, said.

    Senior Congress leader Abdul Mannan, on his part, contended that scepticism of some party members over formation of a coalition with the ISF cost the Sanjukta Morcha dearly.

    “People could not bank on us as the coalition did not shape up as expected, owing to non-acceptance of the ISF by some of our leaders.

    And that, in a way, led to our downfall,” Mannan told PTI.

    AIMIM’s Asadullah Sheikh, however, reasoned that the Muslims, scared and threatened by the BJP, found no better option than the TMC as they could not have relied on new parties that joined the fray.

    “Our Muslim brothers and sisters were tormented by BJP men.

    They felt threatened as BJP leaders kept harping on the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC).

    Apprehensive of an uncertain future, they could not rely on Sanjukta Morcha or us,” he pointed out.

    Sheikh also claimed that the TMC government did nothing to improve the living standards of the community over the past 10 years, but it still managed to pocket votes because “Muslims, more than anything else, wanted to stop the BJP from coming to power in Bengal”.

    “The voting pattern has been the same everywhere, be it Lalgola, Bhagawalgola, Berhampore, Malda, South 24 Parganas or Birbum or Uttar Dinajpur,” he explained.

    Political analyst Biswanath Chakraborty also felt that the community voted for the TMC to protect their identity.

    “It’s 100 per cent true that members of the minority community voted for the TMC in hordes.

    They feared losing their identities.

    The poll narrative around Citizenship Act and National Register of Citizens scared them,” Chakraborty told PTI.

    Interestingly, the Muslim representation in West Bengal assembly has dropped this time when compared to what it was in 2016, even as members of the community voted en masse for the Mamata Banerjee camp.

    The new assembly will be having 44 Muslim legislators – 43 of the TMC and one of the ISF — as against 59 during its last term.

    Apart from Chowdhury, some of the prominent Muslim legislators in the new Assembly will be TMC heavyweights Firhad Hakim, Javed Khan, Idris Ali and IPS-turned politician Humayun Kabir.

    The ISF had contested 26 seats this election, while the Asaduddin Owaisi-led party fielded candidates in seven constituencies.

  • Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankar summons chief secretary over post-poll violence

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: Stating that the state Home Secretary failed to apprise him of law and order situation regarding post-poll violence, West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Saturday asked the Chief Secretary to see him by evening.

    Dhankhar tweeted that the home secretary did not forward reports of the state’s director-general of police (DGP) and commissioner of Kolkata police to him in this regard.

    “Chief Secretary @MamataOfficial has been called upon to see me today before 7 PM as ACS Home @HomeBengal failed to impart status report on law and order regarding post-poll violence,” the governor said in his tweet.

    While State faces worst post election violence- people being made to pay with their lives and freedom only for having exercised right to vote in democracy, Chief Secretary ⁦@MamataOfficial⁩ comes up with alibi for not briefing Governor. Directed him to comply by 7 PM today. pic.twitter.com/fDMEGsnvkO
    — Governor West Bengal Jagdeep Dhankhar (@jdhankhar1) May 8, 2021

    “Such drifting of governance @MamataOfficial from constitutional prescriptions is unfortunate and cannot be overlooked.

    “While the state passes through most severe post-poll violence, there is just no input to the constitutional head. This is least expected,” Dhankhar wrote.

    The West Bengal has been marred with large scale violence after completion of bitterly fought state elections.

    The chief minister has said that 16 persons of different political parties have lost their lives in clashes after the end of the polls.

    A four-member team of the Union Home Ministry, tasked with looking into reasons for the post-poll violence in Bengal, had met Dhankhar at Raj Bhawan the previous day.