News Analysis India

Tag: Trinamool

  • As BJP takes vow to intensify protests against Mamata, Bengal government issues warning against hate speeches

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: Amid claims that the TMC and the BJP have a “tacit understanding” to undermine and divide the opposition camp, the saffron party on Monday said it would not give up until TMC boss and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is defeated in West Bengal.

    The saffron camp also announced that its national president J P Nadda and Union Home Minister Amit Shah would visit the state next month and address party programmes.

    The state BJP unit, during the day, held an organisational meeting here, which was addressed by the party’s national general secretary (organization) B L Santosh.

    The party’s state president, Sukanta Majumdar, its national vice-president Dilip Ghosh and Leader of opposition Suvendu Adhikari were among those present at the meeting.

    “Santoshji clearly said that the party will not give up till Mamata Banerjee is defeated in Bengal. The BJP will not stop till the TMC gets politically defeated in the state. This message was much needed to mobilise cadres and leaders, as the assembly poll defeat and claims of tacit understanding between BJP and TMC were taking a toll on the organisation,” a senior office-bearer noted.

    The grand old party and the CPI (M) have several times in the past accused the TMC of being a “trojan horse of the BJP”.

    The BJP, despite its high-pitched poll campaign, won 77 seats in the last assembly polls, whereas the TMC bagged 213 out of the 294 seats to return to power for the third consecutive time.

    Amid rumblings in the state BJP unit after several old guards were axed from the new office bearers’ committee, Santosh said everybody has to abide by the party discipline.

    “Santosh Ji has promised that no one will be left out, and everybody will be given responsibilities. The motto should that we speak less and listen to people,” the BJP leader stated.

    During the meeting, it was also decided that age of activists and leaders of BJP Yuva Morcha (youth wing) have to be within 35 years, he added.

    The message from the central leadership comes just days after a few MLAs — some from the politically crucial Matua community — have openly expressed their displeasure after being dropped from the newly formed committee.

    Mamata Banerjee on Monday asked everyone to be on guard against any attempt to peddle “divisive agenda” during the upcoming Gangasagar Mela.

    Banerjee, at a meeting here on the preparations made for the annual religious fair, said there will be 13 medical camps at Sagar Island, where RT-PCR tests will conducted and requisite assistance provided.

    A 600-bed COVID-19 hospital will also be readied for meeting any eventuality, she said.

    Urging the administration and the police to maintain strict vigil at the island, she said “This is one of the best fairs in the country. Please see to it that no one makes any provocative speech to create fissures among people.”

    Banerjee also impressed upon officials to take measures to check the spread of COVID-19.

    “Many people will assemble. We have to take special steps to ensure COVID-19 does not spread during the fair. There will be 13 screening camps, where RT-PCR tests will be carried out. A 600-bed COVID hospital will be readied, besides five isolation centres,” she stated.

    Devotees will be given masks free of cost by the government, the CM said.

    More number of trains will be made available in Sealdah south and Howrah sections for ease of commutation, she maintained, adding that the fair venue will be a “plastic-free zone”.

    According to officials, Banerjee will leave for Sagar Island on Tuesday to take stock of the arrangements.

    Lakhs of Hindu pilgrims gather at Sagar Island on the occasion of Makar Sankranti every year to take a holy dip at the confluence of river Ganges and Bay of Bengal and offer prayers at the Kapil Muni Temple.

  • INTERVIEW | 2024 Lok Sabha elections will be Modi vs Mamata, says Trinamool V-P Varma

    Express News Service

    NEW DELHI: Author, former diplomat and now national vice-president of All India Trinamool Congress (AITMC), Pavan K Varma thinks the 2024 Lok Sabha elections will see a Modi vs Mamata battle. He says his party is trying to emerge as the ‘real Congress’ and not necessarily attacking the grand old party. Excerpts from an interview.

    Q There are talks that TMC is eyeing places where Congress already has a footprint and this will not help the unity in Opposition. Your view?

    A TMC feels it is important to have a strong Opposition in a vibrant democracy. Congress could have led the Opposition. But our assessment is Congress with its present leadership is unable to face that challenge. In the last 10 years, it has lost 90 elections. We are faced with two choices — continue to wait for Congress to reinvent itself or reinvent the Opposition space. In a democracy, no party or individual has an ordained right to lead or monopolise the Opposition space. Every party has the right to try to create a more effective Opposition. TMC has resolved to do that and it proposes to become a party with a pan-India footprint. It has authorised its chairperson to make structural changes that help us emerge as the principal Opposition party.

    Q Why is TMC going after Congress?

    A TMC is a breakaway faction of the original Congress party. Our aim is making TMC the real Congress to become the principal Opposition in the country. Our assessment is that large segments of the Congress are tired of being in the state of drift. They will move to an organisation which represents more robustly the ideologies of Congress. We believe Congress, or something like the Congress, is essential in India. We are not fighting the Congress. We are recreating Congress. We are not the only force in the Opposition. We have a natural set of allies who have kept BJP at bay across the country. It could be DMK in TN or Jagan Reddy in Andhra Pradesh. There are many allies, who want a robust and pan-India alliance against BJP.

    The fight between Rahul Gandhi and Narendra Modi is a walkover for BJP. It’s not an attack against any individual. But the current leadership of Congress is not able to challenge BJP. Therefore, either Congress demonstrates it has the ability to reinvent itself, or you (Congress) have to put forward another entity to fight BJP. We can’t defeat BJP merely my arithmetical calculations. We have to think outside the predictable to defeat them. TMC is proposing to take the place of Congress. It does not necessarily wish to attack Congress.

    Q It is speculated that many politicians like you from other parties — Congress, BJP and others — are likely to join TMC. How true is this?

    A (Laughs) Let’ss see what’s next. For how long shall we wait for Congress, which does not have a fulltime president? Mamata Banerjee is not an outsourced repository. But she has fire in her belly to reinvent a robust Opposition and the real Congress in TMC. It is futile to wait for a miracle in Congress. It is a weakened organisation and its members are realising this and moving out to places like TMC seeing political future. We are not weakening Congress. It is a migration of leaders from one party to another to strengthen the Opposition.

    Q What is TMC planning in other states and do you think Mamata Banerjee would be an accepted a leader of Opposition?

    A Mamata Banerjee after the resounding victory in West Bengal has emerged as a leader of trust. She has a strong willingness to form a formidable opposition against BJP. Hopefully, she gets support from all quarters. We have plans for other states and would be far more organised and become better as an Opposition. In regional elections, BJP might have lost but when it come parliamentary elections, there is no organised Opposition. Our aim is to create an Opposition. We have to do some quality work to defeat BJP.

    Q How do you look at the 2024 LS elections? Does the Opposition have any chance?

    A In a democracy, you can not discount any possibility. In one word, 2024 will be Modi vs Mamata. We have state-specific plans and organisational vigour to execute them. Sometimes, we may even ally with whatever is left of Congress. We will have a policy of strategic flexibility and clarity of goals. With all this, along with allies inclduing NCP, DMK, Jagaan Reddy and others, we will see how to mount the challenge. TMC has reinvented itself as a pan-India party. BJP’s strengths are polarisation, hyper nationalism and what can be called Hindutava welfarism. But polarisation doesn’t mean 80% of Hindus vote for BJP.

    Q Will your good office be utilised to reach JDU?

    A Right now, it appears that Nitish Kumar has accepted his position in Bihar as a subordinate accessory of BJP. We will see when 2024 approaches whether Nitish Kumar is happy or not with his role.

    Q BJP accuses TMC of adopting politics of appeasement. How do your see TMC presenting itself as party of all and for all?

    A In the name of secularism, no doubt in past there was some minority appeasement for electoral dividends. But now, we have understood there must be a policy of equality. Hindus must be given their due and the minority must be given their due. We will pursue that. In order to consolidate Hindu votes, BJP harped on such propagation. There is no denying that BJP out of its political compulsion has been accusing TMC of doing politics of appeasement. TMC has changed itself and is emerging as a party of all and for all. BJP‘s accusation will not be an obstacle in TMC’s path.

    Q How do you rate TMC’s chances in Goa elections?

    A It’s early to say because Goa is a pilot case, of what we want to demonstrate. TMC in its present form is basically a West Bengal-centric party. In a state like Goa, where it has zero percentage, TMC is making a good attempt. Under the leadership of Mamata Banerjee, TMC can make it. Hope results encourage us in Goa.

    Q What’s your assessment of UP elections?

    A Elections are difficult to predict. As of now, we believe BJP has an edge, based on limited feedback. But Mamata Banerjee has offered all help to Samajwadi Party and its allies to take on BJP.

  • In new gaffe, ‘ailing’ Trinamool leader Mukul Roy says BJP to win upcoming Bengal civic polls

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: Veteran politician Mukul Roy, who returned to the TMC after having spent over three years in the BJP, made a faux pas on Friday, not his first in the recent times, as he stated that the saffron party would win handsomely in the upcoming elections to 111 civic bodies of Bengal.

    The TMC, embarrassed by his gaffe, refused to attach much importance to the “ailing” leader’s statement.

    Roy, during his visit to Bolpur in Birbhum district, stunned everyone when he said, “The BJP will emerge victorious everywhere in the upcoming municipal polls.”

    As others looked at him in disbelief, Roy went on to tell reporters, “The TMC is BJP and vice versa.”

    He was then led away by TMC’s Birbhum district president Anubrata Mondal who was visibly upset.

    Later, Partha Chatterjee, the secretary general of the TMC, said, “Mukul Roy is ailing and that was probably the reason for his incoherent statements. He is not a functionary of our party. Let’s not attach importance to what he says.”

    Chatterjee further said if Roy thinks he won’t be able to discharge his responsibility as PAC chairman due to his health conditions, he may inform the speaker.

    In September, Roy, during a press meet, had made a similar gaffe as he said that the saffron party will win the bypolls.

    He immediately corrected himself and said that he meant that the TMC would be victorious in the by-elections.

  • Former GJM leader Binay Tamang joins Trinamool ahead of GTA polls

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: Months ahead of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) election, former GJM leader Binay Tamang, who had quit the Hills-based party earlier this year, joined the ruling TMC on Friday.

    Rohit Sharma, an ex-legislator of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM), also followed suit.

    Both of them were handed over TMC flags by state ministers Moloy Ghatak and Bratya Basu.

    Asked about his stance on the Gorkhaland issue, Tamang said development of Darjeeling and Kalimpong hills tops the list of his priorities.

    “Development of Hills is my top priority. The BJP is trying to use the statehood issue to fool the people of the Darjeeling and Kalimpong. Since 2009, the party has been saying that it supports the Gorkhaland demand, but no step was so far taken in this regard.”

    “They (BJP leaders) have also tried to divide Bengal, but this will not be allowed. We are united. We are joining the TMC to work for the development of the Hills,” he said.

    Describing Mamata Banerjee as a “dynamic and visionary leader”, Tamang said he would like to see her as a “prime ministerial candidate in 2024”.

    Tamang further said that “if GJM founder Bimal Gurung, former party leader Anit Thapa and others want to join the All India Trinamool Congress, they are most welcome”.

    Gurung had earlier this year pledged his support to the TMC.

    Welcoming the two into the party, Ghatak said the move made by Tamang and Sharma would significantly impact the politics of the hills.

    Reacting to the development, the BJP said it was on expected lines as Tamang had been working with the state’s ruling party for the last few years.

    The picturesque Darjeeling has repeatedly witnessed violent agitation over the demand for a separate state of Gorkhaland, the latest being in 2017, when a 104-day-long strike over the issue brought the region to a standstill.

    The strike also led to a split in the GJM, with Binay Tamang, once a deputy to the outfit’s supremo Gurung, taking over the party’s reins and expelling the boss.

    Although the GJM faction led by Gurung continued to align with the BJP, the other camp, headed by Tamang, joined hands with the ruling TMC in the state.

    Gurung, who had been in hiding for three years, however, resurfaced in Kolkata in October last year to lend its support to the TMC after quitting the NDA.

    Polls to the 45-member GTA are likely to be held early next year.

    The last election to the semi-autonomous council was held in 2012.

    Tamang’s joining the TMC comes at a time when a section of BJP leaders have renewed the demand for Gorkhaland and also sought to carve out north Bengal as a centrally-administered Union territory, citing disparity in development and injustice to the people of the region.

  • After removal from Bengal BJP committee, Sayantan Basu meets Trinamool leader

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: Former general secretary of the West Bengal BJP Sayantan Basu, who was removed during an organisational overhaul by new state president Sukanta Majumdar, met a senior Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader here on Thursday, fuelling speculation about his future political move.

    While Basu could not be reached for comments, TMC sources confirmed that former party MLA Samir Chakraborty met him at his Salt Lake residence and the two held discussions for over an hour.

    Basu, who was at the forefront of BJP movements in the state for years, including a sit-in on farmers’ issues at Singur, has been sulking after being removed as the general secretary of the party’s state unit and not given any party post, sources in the saffron party said.

    He had even removed himself from a WhatsApp group of the party after the restructuring of its organisational committee on Wednesday afternoon, the sources said.

  • Meghalaya Speaker dismisses Congress’ disqualification plea against 12 deserters

    By PTI

    SHILLONG: Meghalaya Speaker Metbah Lyngdoh on Thursday rejected Congress’ plea to disqualify its 12 MLAs who deserted the party and joined TMC and declared their move as ‘valid’ under the 10th Schedule of the Constitution.

    Senior Congress leader Mukul Sangma, his aide Charles Pyngrope, who is a former assembly speaker and 10 others had on November 25 merged with TMC making it the principal Opposition party in the state.

    “I am satisfied that the merger of 12 members of Indian National Congress is valid under the 10th schedule of the Constitution and does not attract disqualification,” the speaker said in his order after hearing both the parties.

    “I do not find merit in the submissions made in the petition filed by Ampareen Lyngdoh, MLA, and therefore, the same is hereby dismissed,” he stated.

    The 10th Schedule of the Constitution contains provisions relating to disqualification on the ground of defection.

    It was included under the 52nd Constitution Amendment Act, also called Anti Defection Act (1985).

    Reacting to the order, Lyngdoh, who belongs to the Congress, said she “respects” the order and will not pursue with the petition.

    “I will not pursue forward with this petition because our campaign will take priority in 2022. The party, however, may have a different view on the matter,” she said.

    The Meghalaya Assembly election is due in March 2023.

    Lyngdoh said the Congress Legislature Party had petitioned against the desertion to object to the manner in which the exodus was disclosed.

    “We have our election platforms to continue discussion on this betrayal and at the end of the day it is the general people who will decide and present their verdict during the election,” she added.

  • Stop vandalising opposition party offices now: Actor Parambrata hits out at Trinamool

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: Hours after the Kolkata civic poll results were announced on Tuesday, actor Parambrata Chatterjee said vandalising party offices of the opposition should stop immediately.

    Chatterjee’s comment came amid reports of alleged attacks on offices of opposition parties in parts of south Kolkata.

    Chatterjee, who has starred in Kahani, Pari and Bulbul, is known to be a sympathiser of the TMC.

    “Vandalising opposition party offices, after a resounding electoral victory, needs to stop, now! Even if it’s just one instance! And I’m saying this as a sympathiser of the current dispensation in Bengal. I urge leaders to stop cadres from such acts. It only blemishes the mandate,” tweeted the Aranyak actor.

    Chatterjee said that there was little merit in finding excuses and passing the buck.

    “Who started it, how many atrocities the previous regime committed, these can’t be excuses. It was horribly wrong then, it’s equally wrong now. Please, let’s be civil in victory, dignified in triumph!” he added.

    The TMC bagged 134 of the 144 wards in the Kolkata Municipal Corporation.

    The BJP won three wards, and the CPI(M)-led Left Front and the Congress won two wards each.

    Three seats were won by Independent candidates.

    The TMC, meanwhile, has trashed the allegations of the attacks.

    TMC gained control of the 144-member Kolkata Municipal Corporation on Tuesday clinching nearly 72 per cent of votes, in a ringing endorsement for the party seven months after its landslide win in the state assembly polls.

    Mamata Banerjee’s party won 132 seats and was all set to pocket two more to post a hat-trick of wins, decimating a frail challenge from the opposition BJP, the Left Front and the Congress, officials said.

    The BJP, which lost much of its steam after the assembly poll defeat, managed to win just three wards, a senior State Election Commission official said.

    The Congress and the CPI(M)-led Left Front bagged two wards each, and Independents three.

    The Left Front, despite the mauling, finished second to the TMC in terms of vote share.

    Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee, who has been trying to expand her party’s footprint beyond her native state, saw in the victory a leg-up for her national ambitions.

    “I want to dedicate this triumph to the people of the state and ‘Maa, Mati, Manush’ (mother, land and people – TMC slogan for many years). Several national parties like the BJP, Congress, and CPI(M) fought against us, but they were all defeated. This is a victory of a daughter of the soil. This victory will show the way in national politics in days to come,” a visibly pleased Banerjee told reporters outside her residence.

    The TMC had swept all the 16 assembly segments in the city in the assembly polls and the BJP was its main challenger.

    The saffron party was second after the TMC in the assembly elections in all the wards constituting the 16 seats in terms of vote share.

    Riding the momentum of its massive victory in the state polls and the recent UNESCO ‘Intangible Heritage’ tag for Kolkata’s Durga Puja, the TMC bagged about three-fourths of the votes polled.

    The TMC bagged 71.95 per cent of the votes polled, whereas the Left Front and the BJP bagged 11.13 and 8.94 per cent each.

    The Congress clinched 4.47 per cent of the votes and Independents 3.25 per cent.

    The TMC got 22 per cent votes more than the 2015 KMC polls and increased its vote share by 11 per cent compared to the April-May assembly elections.

    The BJP, which garnered six per cent less votes compared to the last KMC polls, saw a sharp decline of 20 per cent vote share compared to the assembly polls in the KMC area seven months back, when it had bagged 29 per cent votes.

    Although the Left lost the chief opposition status to BJP in the KMC in terms of number ofseats won, it got a bigger share of the electoral pie by way of votes than the saffron camp, and bagged seven per cent more votes than what it had polled in the Assembly elections.

    The Left’s vote share, however, was 13 per cent less than the last KMC polls.

    Several high profile candidates of the TMC, including former Mayor Firhad Hakim, former deputy mayor Atin Ghosh, and others like Mala Roy, Debashis Kumar, Tarak Singh, Paresh Pal, won by impressive margins.

    The highest victory margin was recorded by TMC candidate Faiz Ahmed Khan in ward no 66.

    He won by a whopping 62,045 votes, followed by TMC’s Ananya Banerjee, who emerged victorious by a margin of 37,661 votes from ward no 109.

    Kajari Banerjee, the sister-in-law of Mamata Banerjee, also won from ward no 73.

    BJP’s sitting councillor and former deputy mayor Mina Devi Purohit won for the sixth consecutive time.

    TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee also thanked the people of Kolkata for the “huge mandate”.

    “People of Kolkata have once again proven that politics of HATE & VIOLENCE have NO PLACE in BENGAL! I thank everyone for blessing us with such a huge mandate. We are truly humbled and shall always remain committed in our goals towards YOUR BETTERMENT! Thank you Kolkata,” he tweeted.

    Senior party leader and former Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim described it as victory of the party’s developmental work in the last decade in the city.

    “Our development efforts since 2010 was enough to ensure this victory. Right now, we will focus on improved civic services including environmental issues. We will strive to make the city Covid-free in the near future,” Hakim, a minister in the Banerjee cabinet, said.

    The BJP, however, termed the results a reflection of the “reign of terror” that the TMC has unleashed.

    “This result was expected because free and fair polls didn’t take place in the absence of central forces,” BJP leader Shamik Bhattacharya said.

    However, senior CPI(M) leader Sujan Chakraborty saw a silver lining in the results as in most of the wards, “the Left has emerged the main opposition.”

    Had the elections been fair, our results would have been much better,” he said.

    Over 63 per cent of the nearly 40.5 lakh voters had exercised their franchise on Sunday.

    The TMC has been in power in KMC since 2010.

    In the last KMC polls in 2015, it had won 124 seats, whereas the Left Front bagged 13.

    The BJP and the Congress had secured five and two seats, respectively.

    The newly elected TMC councillors will meet on December 23 to elect the city’s next mayor.

    In the 145-year history of Kolkata Municipal Corporation, nationalist leaders like Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and Bidhan Chandra Roy, also a former chief minister, graced the mayor’s chair in pre-Independent India.

    Hakim was the first Muslim mayor of the city since Independence.

  • Voters’ privacy will be compromised: Trinamool slams Centre over Bill on electoral reforms

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Criticising the Centre for the passage of a Bill in the Lok Sabha on Monday linking electoral roll data with the Aadhaar ecosystem, the Trinamool Congress alleged that the privacy of voters would be compromised if it becomes a law.

    The Election Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021, piloted by Law Minister Kiren Rijiju, was passed by a voice vote after a brief discussion during which some opposition members demanded that it be referred to a parliamentary panel for scrutiny.

    In a statement later, TMC national spokesperson Sukhendu Sekhar Ray claimed that neither the Bill has been scrutinised by the department-related parliamentary standing committee nor the government has the legislative competence to enact such a law given the Supreme Court’s judgment in the Putuswamy Case whereby the limits of use of Aadhaar card was restricted.

    Once it is implemented, not only the privacy of voters will be compromised, there is also scope for exclusion of genuine voters, Ray added.

    He alleged that everything has been done in a “hush-hush manner and extreme haste”.

    “Firstly, no scrutiny by standing committee was done. Secondly, the Election Commission was attempted to be influenced as the PMO (Prime Minister’s Office) asked its functionaries to join a meeting, which is unprecedented,” he mentioned.

    Thirdly, all of a sudden, the Business Advisory Committee Meeting of Rajya Sabha was called on Monday evening for allocation of time for this Bill passed by Lok Sabha, he said.

    “Lastly, 12 of Rajya Sabha members were arbitrarily and illegally suspended keeping an eye on number game for smooth passage of the Bills in Rajya Sabha,” Ray, who is the Chief Whip of the TMC in the Upper House, mentioned.

    He said, “The TMC condemns the way Parliament has been taken for a ride and shall oppose tooth and nail this Bill tomorrow, demanding that the matter be referred to select committee.”

  • After resigning as MLA, Goa Congress leader reaches Kolkata; likely to join Trinamool

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: Senior Goa Congress leader Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco who resigned as an MLA on Monday morning ahead of next year’s assembly election, reached Kolkata in the evening and is likely to join the Trinamool Congress.

    The working president of the Goa Congress was welcomed at the Kolkata airport by TMC MP Santanu Sen.

    “He will meet our party’s top leadership tonight and join the party,” a senior TMC leader said.

    Lourenco resigned as a Member of the Goa Legislative Assembly earlier in the day, reducing the Congress’ strength to two in the 40-member House.

    The Congress reacted sharply to Lourenco’s resignation, saying people who betray the trust will face consequences and that voters from Lourenco’s Assembly segment will teach him a “befitting lesson”.

    A few months back, ex-CM Luizinho Faleiro had also quit the Congress and joined the TMC, which has decided to contest the Goa Assembly polls.

    The TMC supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee last week visited Goa on a two-day political trip and addressed several public meetings.

    The TMC, which is trying to make inroads in the political landscapes of other states, has been up in arms against the grand old party over its alleged failure to counter the BJP.

  • BJP alleges massive rigging in KMC elections, urges Bengal Governor for repolling

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: Alleging large-scale rigging during the Kolkata Municipal Corporation elections, opposition BJP on Sunday met West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar and urged him to take steps to countermand the civic polls.

    Leader of Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari claimed that there were over 100 instances of irregularities during the polls, and not more than 20 per cent of the electorate could cast votes.

    “Most CCTVs were non-functional with papers and stickers pasted on the camera or their connection points pulled out. The chief minister is turning the state into a dictator-run republic,” he said.

    Sporadic incidents of violence including hurling of bombs at two booths and skirmishes between political workers marred an otherwise humdrum polling as 63.63 per cent of the nearly 40.5 lakh voters exercised their franchise till 5 pm on Sunday, when voting ended.

    High drama was witnessed outside a Salt Lake area house where Adhikari was holding a meeting with party MLAs, after the Bidhannagar city police cordoned-off the entire area and stopped him from leaving for Raj Bhawan, where he was scheduled to meet the Governor, citing a directive of the State Election Commission that non-residents cannot enter the city on polling day.

    In a video that surfaced on social media, BJP vice-president Jay Prakash Majumder was seen arguing with police officers, asking them on what grounds were they taking such action.

    A deputy commissioner rank officer was heard telling him: “We cannot allow you to proceed to Kolkata as polling is being held and you are not residents of the metropolis.”

    Adhikari also alleged he was manhandled by a junior police officer, and that the gates of the MLA hostel in Kolkata were locked till 5 pm, preventing eight BJP legislators from attending a legislature party meeting.

    Later, the governor, in a tweet, said: “BJP delegation led by LOP @SuvenduWB has urged the Governor to take steps to declare polls #KMC null and void in view of rampant violence, rigging and @KolkataPolice acting for ruling party. A thorough probe was sought in the locking of opposition MLAs in the hostel.”

    “Delegation also sought investigation into the virtual house arrest @bidhannagarpc of LOP @SuvenduWB and several MLAs, being reminiscent of emergency. According to them, ruling party Ministers and MLAs had free run with support @KolkataPolice.”

    A BJP delegation on Sunday evening submitted various footages and documents to the SEC, demanding repolling.

    Adhikari said the KMC elections is being monitored by the Calcutta High Court, and the party will also submit footages in support of its claims to the court on December 23.

    “I saw her (CM Mamata Banerjee) thanking police for having stopped outsiders. How long will she keep labelling residents of the state as outsiders?” the leader of opposition added.