News Analysis India

Tag: West Bengal Bypolls

  • Suvendu Adhikari alleges EVMs changed before counting in Bengal by-polls; TMC trashes claim

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: Leader of Opposition in the West Bengal assembly Suvendu Adhikari on Sunday claimed that electronic voting machines (EVMs) were changed before counting in four assembly constituencies where by-elections were held on October 30, and TMC candidates won by huge victory margins.

    Alleging that in certain booths, the number of votes secured by the BJP was less than that of the voters in the families of saffron party leaders and workers, Adhikari wondered how this had happened.

    The ruling TMC rejected the allegations as baseless, saying the by-polls were held under the Election Commission and counting took place under tight security by central force personnel.

    “EVMs in four assembly segments were altered before counting. Otherwise, how can Subrata Mondal in Gosaba and Udayan Guha in Dinhata win by such a huge margin? I have information that the EVM used in Behala Purba constituency (during the assembly elections) earlier this year was counted in Gosaba,” Adhikari said at a function in Kolkata.

    Guha won the Dinhata bypoll by a record margin of 1.64 lakh while Mondal emerged victorious by 1.43 lakh votes from Gosaba.

    The TMC’s Braja Kishore Goswami defeated his nearest BJP rival by 64,675 votes in Santipur, while in the Khardah assembly segment, state minister Sovandeb Chattopadhyay beat the BJP nominee by a margin of 93,832 votes.

    While BJP leader Nisith Pramanik, who became Union minister later, won the assembly election by a wafer-thin margin of just 57 votes defeating Guha from the Dinhata seat earlier this year, another BJP MP Jagannath Sarkar won by a comfortable margin of 15,878 votes from Santipur.

    The two, however, resigned as MLAs to keep their memberships in the Lok Sabha after the TMC secured a landslide victory, necessitating the by-polls.

    “In the Santipur College booth, the TMC bagged 478 votes and the BJP 8.There are 20 BJP workers in that booth and the total number of voters in their families is 92. At a booth in Gosaba, one leader has eight voters in his family but the BJP got only one vote. How are these possible?” Adhikari said, indicating malpractices during the bt-elections.

    The allegations do not make any sense, TMC state spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said.

    “The by-polls were held under the Election Commission’s supervision. The counting took place under tight security by central force personnel. Adhikari is cooking up such absurd stories hide BJP leaders’ failure to stop the quick erosion of support base after tall claims made before the assembly elections,” he said.

    After the by-polls, the tally of the TMC in the state assembly rose to 217, while that of the BJP came down to 75.

  • West Bengal by-poll peaceful, 29 per cent votes cast till 11 am

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: Around 29 per cent votes were cast till 11 am on Saturday in four assembly seats in West Bengal where peaceful by-poll is on amidst tight security, Election Commission official said.

    Polling began at 7 am and till 11 am Dinhata registered 28.73 per cent turnout, Shantipur 32.31 per cent, Khardah 23.60 per cent and Gosaba (SC) 33.87 per cent, the official said.

    There were reports of minor incidents at Khardah in the northern periphery of the city.

    BJP candidate Joy Saha was seen chasing a person, who he later handed over to the police claiming that the man was a fake voter.

    Senior CPI(M) leader Tanmay Bhattacharya claimed that his car was attacked by TMC activists and he received injuries when he was entering the party office at Khardah.

    The allegation was denied by the ruling party.

    The EC official told PTI, “Polling is absolutely peaceful and there is not a single incident or any problem anywhere in the four constituencies. Polling is taking place very smoothly”.

    The EC has, however, sought a report on the heated exchange of words between BJP and Trinamool Congress workers at Khardah constituency in North 24 Parganas district, he said.

    There were complaints of similar incidents from Shantipur in Nadia district and Gosaba in South 24 Parganas district, the EC official said.

    “Most of these incidents took place outside the booths or polling stations. There is an adequate number of central forces as well as state police who are handling the situation with utmost precision. We are, however, keeping a close watch on everything,” he said.

    The Election Commission has ordered strict maintenance of COVID-19 guidelines during the by-election.

    Extensive security arrangements have been made for peaceful polling.

    The EC has deployed 27 companies of central armed forces at Dinhata, 22 at Shantipur, 20 at Khardah and 23 at Gosaba, an official said.

  • Contesting from Bhabanipur is my destiny, BJP bringing in outsiders to create disturbances: Mamata Banerjee

    Mamata Banerjee said contesting from Bhabanipur is her destiny and slammed BJP for bringing in outsiders to West Bengal.

  • Covid situation under control, EC must immediately announce bypoll dates in WB: Mamata Banerjee

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: Asserting that the COVID-19 situation in Bengal is “completely under control”, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday insisted that the Election Commission should immediately announce dates for the pending bypolls to seven assembly seats of the state.

    She also said that the EC should ensure that the democratic rights of people are not curtailed.

    “(It’s been) Already four months (since the elections got over), and now with the COVID-19 situation completely under control, people have the right to cast their ballot….They (ECI) had asked for the opinion of political parties.

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    “I think the EC must announce the by-election dates immediately as we must not curtail the democratic rights of the people,” she said at the state secretariat.

    Bypolls are due in the seven assembly constituencies of West Bengal — Jangipur, Samshergunj, Khardha, Bhabanipur, Dinahata, Shantipur and Goshaba.

    According to TMC sources, the CM, who lost to BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari in Nandigram seat, is likely to contest from her home turf Bhabanipur assembly constituency, which was vacated by veteran leader Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay shortly after the results were declared.

    Banerjee has filed a case before the Calcutta High Court, challenging the poll results in Nandigram.