News Analysis India

Tag: Bengal elections

  • Bengal polls: Trinamool appoints Yashwant Sinha as party’s vice president

    By ANI
    KOLKATA: Former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Yashwant Sinha, who recently joined the Trinamool Congress, has been appointed the Vice President of the Mamata Banerjee-led party.

    The former union minister has also been made a member of the TMC national working committee as per the order issued on Monday by TMC General Secretary Subrata Bakshi.

    On March 13, Sinha joined the TMC in Kolkata ahead of the state Assembly polls.

    West Bengal will witness eight-phased Assembly polls beginning March 27.

    The tenure of the 16th Legislative Assembly of West Bengal will end on May 30 this year. A total of 7,34,07,832 voters will choose their representative for the 17th Legislative Assembly of West Bengal.

  • ‘Trinamool bhagao, BJP lao, Bangla bachao’: Smriti Irani coins slogan for Bengal polls

    By ANI
    WEST MEDINIPUR: Taking a jibe at West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Union Minister Smriti Irani on Sunday said that the people of the state wanted ‘TMC (Trinamool Congress) bhagao, BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) lao, Bangla bachao’.

    Addressing a public rally at Salboni to support Medinipur BJP candidate Samit Das, Irani claimed that Mamata had taken undue credit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s welfare schemes for the poor in the state.

    “PM Modi sent Rs 4 lakh crore from Delhi for the poor people and the development of the state, but Didi, when you were supporting the previous Congress governments at the Centre, how much money did you spent?… Didi has supported those who have looted India’s treasury and have raised their voices against the nation,” she said.

    “The people of Bengal have decided that it is time for Didi’s game to be over. The people want ‘TMC bhagao, BJP lao, Bangla bachao’,” she quipped.

    Irani also said that since coming to power, the Mamata-led state government, for the first time, disallowed immersion of Maa Durga idol and Saraswati Puja celebrations in West Bengal.

    “She is saying ‘Khela hobe’ (Game on), but the people are saying ‘Khela shesh’ (Game over)… The way elections are taking place, the whole country has become aware that the people of Bengal have decided that TMC will be departing this time. ”Pishi’ (Aunt) and ‘Bhaipo’ (Nephew) are going, and the BJP government is coming to Bengal,” she further mentioned, while also accusing her and TMC of playing with the dignity and life of Bengal’s women and the poor.

    She also urged the people to press the lotus button on March 27 and give their blessings to Das.

    West Bengal is likely to witness a triangular contest this time with TMC, Congress-Left alliance and the BJP in the fray.

    Elections to 294-member West Bengal Assembly will be held in eight phases starting from March 27 with the final round of voting taking place on April 29. The counting of votes will take place on May 2.

  • People of Bengal want ‘Vikas’ not ‘Khela’, will vote for Congress-Left alliance: Jaiveer Shergill

    By ANI
    NEW DELHI: Taking a jibe at Trinamool Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party ahead of assembly polls in West Bengal, Congress leader and star campaigner of Congress Jaiveer Shergill on Sunday said that ‘jhol hobe’ corruption will certainly happen whether BJP comes or TMC returns to power.

    “Mamta Banerjee says ‘Khela hobe’ (Game on), while Prime Minister Narendra Modi says ‘Khela Shesh’ (the game is not over), but we say if BJP or TMC will come to power then only “Jhol Hobe”. People of Bengal want a change and therefore they will vote for the Congress-left alliance and then ‘vikas hobe’ (development will happen),” he said referring that the Congress party is fighting the election on the issue of development.

    Speaking to ANI about Congress’ agenda for the campaign in West Bengal, Shergill told ANI that people of Bengal are paying a heavy price for the political violence in the state.

    “BJP and TMC are doing politics; playing tug of war or engaged in mud-slinging politics. Congress’ main plan for Bengal is providing ‘Rojgar and Karobar’ (Jobs and Businesses), Congress is solely focused on bringing the wave of development, employment, and rural progress,” Shergill said.

    He said that today people of West Bengal are only seeing blots being created by BJP and TMC, but the only thing which Congress wants people to see is the spot of prosperity and development.

    West Bengal is likely to witness a triangular contest this time with TMC, Congress-Left alliance and the BJP in the fray. Congress is fighting the polls alliance with Left parties, and it will contest on 92 seats in the state. In the last assembly elections, Congress won 45 seats and claimed the berth of Leader of Opposition in the assembly.

    However, in the recent polls for Lok Sabha, the party managed to secure only two out of 42 seats in the state while BJP won 18 seats and secured the second position in West Bengal.

    Elections to 294-member West Bengal Assembly will be held in eight phases starting from March 27 with the final round of voting taking place on April 29. The counting of votes will take place on May 2.

  • ‘Demand high-level probe’: Trinamool disagrees with EC’s ‘no attack’ on Mamata observation

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: The TMC said on Sunday it disagrees with the Election Commission’s observation that there was no pre-meditated attack on West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Nandigram and demanded a high- level probe into the incident, insisting the inquiry by election observers lacks credibility.

    However, party spokesperson Sougata Roy expressed satisfaction that the EC agreed that there were security lapses and took action against some officials.

    Earlier Sunday, the Election Commission concurred with the reports sent by its two special poll observers and the state government that there was no pre-meditated attack on the TMC supremo on Wednesday, indicating that her injuries were the result of a security lapse.

    The poll panel ordered that Director (Security) Vivek Sahay, an IPS officer, be removed from his post and placed under suspension immediately.

    The Superintendent of Police of Purba Medinipur Pravin Prakash was also suspended, while District Magistrate Vibhu Goel was transferred.

    “We disagree with the EC’s observation based on the report of special election observers that there was no attack on Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. The report of the election observers lacks credibility and fails to inspire confidence. We reiterate our demand for a high-level probe into the incident,” Roy said.

    ALSO READ | BJP asks EC to make Mamata Banerjee’s treatment history public

    Reacting to the removal of officials by the EC over security lapses, Roy said, “It is good that at least they have accepted that there were security lapses.

    “It is a welcome move that the EC has removed the officials over security lapses. At least they have taken some action. We had raised this question as to how there were lapses in the security of the chief minister,” he said.

    After reviewing the reports sent by its two special poll observers–Ajay Naik and Vivek Dube– and the state government, the EC concluded that Banerjee sustained injuries prima facie due to a lapse on the part of her security in- charge, sources in the poll panel said.

    ALSO READ | Mamata should apologise to Nandigram people for false claims over ‘attack’ incident: BJP MP Locket Chatterjee

    While Banerjee was using an ordinary vehicle, her director of security Vivek Sahay was in a bulletproof car when the incident took place.

    Also, no approval was taken from the returning officer of the area where the incident took place, the sources said.

    Due to this, poll officials could not deploy videographers or flying squads, they added.

  • Bengal polls: Congress releases list of another 34 candidates; ISF names 20 contestants

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Congress on Sunday released its next list of candidates for the upcoming Assembly elections in West Bengal, announcing 34 names for the polls.

    The names were finalised after a meeting of the party’s Central Election authority chaired by Sonia Gandhi.

    This is the third list of Congress candidates for the eight-phase West Bengal assembly elections starting March 27.

    So far, the party has announced a total of 50 candidates.

    It had earlier released names of 13 and three candidates in two separate lists.

    Meanwhile, Abbas Siddiqui-led Indian Secular Front (ISF), an alliance partner of the Left Front and the Congress in the state, on Sunday announced the names of candidates for 20 constituencies in the upcoming assembly elections in West Bengal.

    ISF president Simul Soren will contest from Haripal in Hooghly district, while Mohammed Iqbal and Nuruzzaman will be the party’s candidates from Entally and Metiabruz, respectively, it said in a statement.

    ISF is yet to announce the names of candidates from Canning Purba, Jangipara, Bhangar, Madhyamgram, Haroa and Mayureshwar — the seats it has identified to fight from as a part of the alliance.

    The party said that it announced the names of 20 candidates from among the 26 seats for which it has an alliance with the Left Front.

    While the Left Front has given 30 seats to the ISF from its kitty, the Congress, from which the Siddique-led party demanded 15 seats, has agreed to give it only eight from its share.

  • Wave of public support in favour of BJP in Bengal, asserts Keshav Prasad Maurya

    By PTI
    LUCKNOW: Asserting that the wave of public support in favour of the BJP is much stronger in West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya on Sunday said the party will cross the 200-seat mark in the poll-bound eastern state.

    “For the past three months, I have been touring West Bengal from the election point of view and interacting with members of the public, party office bearers and workers. Based on the feedback gathered, I can say that the wave of public support is in favour of the BJP in West Bengal this time, much stronger than the one which swept Uttar Pradesh during the 2017 Assembly elections,” he told PTI.

    Claiming that the days of the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) are numbered, Maurya said, “Do maee, didi gayee (May 2, Didi’s government gone).” Drawing a comparison between Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, the BJP leader said people of the poll-bound state will reject the “buaa-bhatijaa” duo (of Mamata Banerjee and her nephew Abhishek Banerjee) like the way UP rejected the “buaa-bhatijaa” (Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav) in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

    On the support extended by non-BJP parties to the TMC, Maurya, who is campaigning for the BJP in around 35 assembly seats, said, “The sole aim of these parties is to stop the BJP from coming to power because if the BJP comes to power, their chances of staging a comeback will virtually end. Even if anti-BJP political parties extend support to ‘Didi’ (Banerjee), she will not be able to escape (from defeat), as the people (of West Bengal) have made up their minds.”

    He also targeted the TMC supremo over not raising “Jai Shri Ram” slogan.

    “Why does ‘Didi’ get disturbed by Jai Shri Raam slogan? It is solely because of politics of appeasement and to gather the votes of infiltrators,” the deputy CM said.

    Banerjee had recently declined to speak at an event to celebrate Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s birth anniversary where “Jai Shri Ram” slogans were raised in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

    Rebutting claims that ‘Didi’ was still a craze in poll-bound West Bengal in terms of posters and banners, Maurya said, “In the 2017 UP Assembly elections, posters and banners of the Samajwadi Party were seen the most, but the BJP emerged as victorious. This time, hoardings of the Trinamool Congress are most visible because they have misused the government machinery.”

    “But, I feel that elections are not won by banners and posters. People want to get rid of Trinamool Congress and ‘Didi’, and want a BJP government. They want to show their faith, which they had reposed in the prime minister,” he added.

    West Bengal will be voting in eight phases, beginning March 27.

    Votes will be counted on May 2.

  • MPs, defectors and actors among candidates: BJP deploys heavy artillery in south Bengal

    Express News Service
    KOLKATA:  The BJP is deploying heavy artillery to wrest south Bengal from the Trinamool Congress, if one were to go by the list of candidates for 63 seats in the third and fourth phases of the eight-phase West Bengal Assembly polls.

    For, it has fielded four BJP members of Parliament, four defectors and an equal number of actors, trying to whip up enthusiasm and possibly create a wave for the big fight.

    The party has already made deep inroads in north Bengal during the Lok Sabha polls. While Union minister and Asansol MP Babul Supriyo will contest from Tollygunge in Kolkata, Rajya Sabha MP Swapan Dasgupta will enter the fray from Tarakeshwar.

    Dasgupta’s name is already doing the rounds as a possible chief ministerial candidate.

    ALSO READ | ‘BJP will bring back Sonar Bangla’: Amit Shah tells voters ahead of WB Assembly elections

    Tarakeshwar is a popular Hindu pilgrimage site in Hooghly district and his candidature is significant in the backdrop of the BJP’s Hindutva rhetoric.

    Fielding Supriyo in Tollygunge is being seen as a smart move as Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, while announcing her party’s candidate list, had hinted she might contest from there besides Nandigram.

    Former minister in Mamata’s cabinet Rajib Banerjee has been fielded from his own constituency Domjur in Howrah and Trinamool defector Rabindranath Bhattacharya from Singur. Bhattacharya joined the BJP two days after Mamata denied him a ticket.

    But angry BJP supporters in Singur reportedly locked up visiting Madhya Pradesh health minister Prabhuram Chaudhary in a party office, demanding Bhattacharya’s axing from the list.

    Meanwhile, minutes after he was nominated as BJP candidate from Tarakeswar assembly seat in Hooghly district, Dasgupta said his party wants to put an end to TMCs ‘syndicate raj’ in West Bengal.

    He also asked people who hail from the state but live outside to “chip in” and help the BJP build ‘Sonar Bangla’ (golden Bengal).

    “We all are aware about the situation prevailing in state. This atmosphere of violence, extortion. We want to end that. The BJP will ensure that people in Bengal get to live in peace,” he said.

    Senior saffron party leaders including Amit Shah and J P Nadda have often hit out at the Mamata Banerjee camp for allegedly patronising syndicates and clubs that extort money from common people.

    Dasgupta also said that “work opportunities have dried up” in the state, and talented youth are moving out for jobs and higher education.

    ALSO READ | Denied poll ticket, BJP aspirants protest across Bengal; TMC turncoat Sovan Chatterjee quits

    “Bengalis have been able to establish themselves all over the world. Sadly, they do not get enough scope to work here and move out. We wish to stem that flow,” he said.

    Taking to Twitter, he wrote, “Honoured to be nominated by the West Bengal BJP to contest from Tarakeshwara centre of Bengals cultural heritage. I look forward to the campaign for a new, vibrant Sonar Bangla.”

    (With PTI Inputs)

  • 14 years of Nandigram violence: Ahead of Kolkata rally, Mamata says will fight against ‘anti-Bengal forces’

    By ANI
    KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday said she is contesting from Nandigram to work along with members of Shaheed families against “anti-Bengal forces”, remembering the innocent villagers were killed in firing at Nandigram on March 14 in 2007.

    “On this day, in 2007, innocent villagers were killed in firing at Nandigram. Many bodies could not be found. It was a dark chapter in the history of the State. Heartfelt tribute to all those who lost their lives,” she tweeted.

    ”In memory of those who lost their lives in Nandigram, we observe March 14 as Krishak Dibas every year and give away the Krishak Ratna awards. Farmers are our pride and our government is working for their all-round development,” she said in another tweet.

    ”As a mark of respect and encouraged by my brothers and sisters of Nandigram, I am contesting Bengal Elections 2021 as an AITC candidate from this historic place. It is my great honour to be here and work along with members of Shaheed families against anti-Bengal forces,” she added.

    In 2007, several villagers were reportedly killed and many others sustained injuries during a protest over land acquisition for a special economic zone (SEZ) in Nandigram in East Midnapore district.

    ALSO READ | BJP has to win Bengal to expand ideological footprint, secure eastern borders: Dilip Ghosh

    The incident had sparked a national outrage and the Calcutta High Court had suo motu ordered a CBI probe.

    Banerjee, then the opposition leader, had spearheaded a movement against the Left Front government’s acquisition of arable land in Nandigram and Singur for industrialisation.

    Her party reaped rich dividends from the agitations, winning 50 per cent of the panchayat seats in 2008, bagging 19 Lok Sabha seats in 2009 and ending the 34-year-long Left Front rule in the state in 2011.

    Mamata Banerjee had been contesting polls from the Bhawanipore constituency. The BJP fielded former TMC leader Suvendu Adhikari from Nandigram against Mamata Banerjee, setting the stage for a high-profile contest from the seat.

    Meanwhile, Trinamool on Sunday cancelled the election manifesto’s release which was scheduled for today. The next date will be announced later.

    Earlier, the manifesto was scheduled to be released on March 11. However, the release of the manifesto was cancelled following an alleged attack on Mamata.

    Banerjee will conduct a roadshow, days after sustaining injuries during election campaigning, on a wheelchair from Gandhi Murti to Hazra here today, Trinamool Congress (TMC) party sources said. She will address a public rally at Hazra this afternoon.

    It will be her first public appearance after she was allegedly attacked by some people in Nandigram earlier this week.

    On March 10, the Chief Minister, who was on a two-day visit to Nandigram from where she filed her nomination, alleged that she was pushed by a few unidentified people during her election campaigning. Later, she was brought to Kolkata’s SSKM Hospital by road from Nandigram.

    ALSO READ | BJP firms up candidates, set to come out with all guns blazing in poll-bound states

    Banerjee sustained “severe bone injuries” on her left foot and ankle as well as bruises and injuries on her shoulder, forearm and neck, according to the report of her initial medical examination.

    The Chief Minister was discharged from the hospital on March 12.

    West Bengal is likely to witness a triangular contest this time with TMC, Congress-Left alliance and the BJP in the fray.

    Elections to 294-member West Bengal Assembly will be held in eight phases starting from March 27 with the final round of voting taking place on April 29. The counting of votes will take place on May 2.

    (With PTI Inputs)

  • Bengal polls: Days after ‘attack’, Mamata to conduct roadshow on wheelchair in Kolkata on Sunday

    By ANI
    KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will conduct a roadshow, days after sustaining injuries during election campaigning, on a wheelchair from Gandhi Murti to Hazra here on Sunday, Trinamool Congress (TMC) party sources said.

    She will address a public rally at Hazra this afternoon.

    It will be her first public appearance after she was allegedly attacked by some people in Nandigram earlier this week.

    ALSO READ | BJP has to win Bengal to expand ideological footprint, secure eastern borders: Dilip Ghosh

    On March 10, the Chief Minister, who was on a two-day visit to Nandigram from where she filed her nomination, alleged that she was pushed by a few unidentified people during her election campaigning.

    Later, she was brought to Kolkata’s SSKM Hospital by road from Nandigram.

    Banerjee sustained “severe bone injuries” on her left foot and ankle as well as bruises and injuries on her shoulder, forearm and neck, according to the report of her initial medical examination.

    The Chief Minister was discharged from the hospital on March 12.

    “Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has responded well to the treatment. The six-member board has re-examined her health condition. We have opened the plaster cast. Fresh plaster has been applied. She has been discharged with appropriate instructions, after her repeated requests. She has been advised to revisit after seven days,” the medical board of the SSKM Hospital in Kolkata told reporters.

    ALSO READ | BJP firms up candidates, set to come out with all guns blazing in poll-bound states

    On Friday, a delegation of six MPs of Trinamool Congress (TMC) met the Election Commission officials in the national capital to raise their concern over the Nandigram incident. “The events/actions leading up to the attempt on her life, leave no doubt that the attack was premeditated and part of a deep-rooted conspiracy,” read a letter by the TMC to the Election Commission.

    A BJP delegation also met the Election Commission of India and demanded an impartial probe into an alleged attack on Mamata Banerjee.

    Commenting on the incident, West Bengal Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury accused Mamata Banerjee of resorting to ‘nautanki’ (theatrics)

    “This is ‘siyasi pakhand’ (hypocrisy) to gain sympathy. Before polls, she (Mamata Banerjee) planned this ‘nautanki’ after sensing difficulties in Nandigram,” Chowdhury had said.

    BJP National General Secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya too on Saturday said that the attempt by Trinamool Congress to create controversy has backfired as the district administration as well as Election Commission has called the incident in Nandigram that resulted in an injury to Banerjee as an accident.

    “Reports of district administration and EC have called it an accident. Mamata ji has said that she was pushed. It’s a controversy between governance and administration. This attempt of stirring controversy and gain sympathy has backfired,” said Vijayvargiya after BJP’s central election committee meeting in Delhi.

    ALSO READ | BJP leader visits Sisir Adhikari at his residence, speculation rife over Trinamool MP’s next move

    “We are not worried. Those (TMC) who tried to use the wrong means to gain sympathy from people should be worried. They have been exposed,” he added when asked if Banerjee’s injury could swing voters in her favour.

    West Bengal is likely to witness a triangular contest this time with TMC, Congress-Left alliance and the BJP in the fray.

    Elections to 294-member West Bengal Assembly will be held in eight phases starting from March 27 with the final round of voting taking place on April 29. The counting of votes will take place on May 2. 

  • Amit Shah on two-day campaign in poll-bound Assam, Bengal; may meet kin of deceased BJP workers

    By Express News Service
    KOLKATA:  Union Home Minister Amit Shah will be on a two-day poll campaign in West Bengal starting from Sunday. He will address two rallies in Junglemahal, where the BJP made deep inroads in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections by bagging all five seats, and the other in West Midnapore’s Kharagpur.

    Shah is also likely to hold a roadshow in Kharagpur town. Sources in the Bharatiya Janata Party said Shah and BJP’s national president JP Nadda is likely to meet the family members of 129 BJP workers who were killed in police violence in past few years.

    The BJP has blamed the ruling Trinamool Congress for the violence. Both leaders will be meeting the family members in small groups in the coming days and weeks in the state where the BJP has been running an intense campaign to end the TMC’s 10-year long reign.

    Shah will meet the family members of around 86 of the deceased party workers, and Nadda the rest, sources said. “We are determined to retain our strength that we achieved in the 2019 general elections.

    So, Shah will address a rally at Khatra in Bankura and another in Jhargram,” said a BJP leader. The saf fron camp had snatched the Jhargram Lok Sabha constituency in 2019 which the TMC had won with record margin of more than 3.5 lakh votes in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. The BJP said Shah will also address two public meetings at Margarita and Nazira in Assam on Sunday.

    (With agency inputs)