News Analysis India

Tag: West Bengal election

  • Congress criticises PM Modi for addressing election rallies instead of cordinating pandemic control

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Congress on Saturday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of “shocking callousness” for addressing rallies in poll-bound West Bengal “instead of staying in Delhi” to handle the COVID pandemic situation.

    Congress’ senior spokesperson P Chidambaram said the prime minister should be at his job, sitting at his desk and coordinating with chief ministers in handling the COVID pandemic.

    “It is shocking callousness on the part of the prime minister to be addressing rallies in West Bengal, instead of staying in Delhi and handling the situation.

    He should be there in Delhi fighting the war instead,” he told reporters at a press conference.

    “I hope the people of West Bengal will take note of this and give him a shocking reply,” Chidambaram said in response to a question.

    “He (PM) should be at his job, at his desk, taking decisions and coordinating with state governments and reassuring chief ministers that their demands on vaccines, oxygen and ventilators would be met.

    This is the prime minister’s job today,” he said.

    He was asked about the charge by a Maharashtra minister that Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray tried to speak to the PM but was told that he is on a tour of West Bengal.

    The former union minister said “this is a one-man government” and PM Modi must be present in Delhi to discuss the situation with chief ministers.

    Prime Minister Modi has been addressing public rallies in West Bengal for the eight-phase assembly elections in the state.

  • Candidates with criminal records have 28 per cent chance of winning elections: Survey

    Party-wise analysis suggested that 180 of 774 BJP candidates, who contested polls since 2004, have criminal cases.

  • BJP urges Election Commission to deploy only central forces for Bengal polls

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The BJP on Friday urged the Election Commission to deploy only Central Armed Police Forces for the West Bengal assembly polls to ensure “fairness, dignity and sanctity of the process”.

    A party delegation met the Election Commission (EC) and demanded that central observers oversee the state’s police and administrative machineries, including their role in the deployment of central forces, and have the final say in the electoral process.

    It made these demands alleging that the conduct of the state’s police and administrative machineries do not exhibit much confidence about their “non-political or bi-partisan conduct”, according to a memorandum submitted by the delegation.

    The delegation included BJP national general secretary Bhupender Yadav, its West Bengal chief Dilip Ghosh, MPs Swapan Dasgupta, Locket Chatterjee and Arjun Singh, besides leaders Om Pathak and Sanjay Mayukh.

    Dasgupta said they also conveyed their apprehensions about the possible misuse of the provision that allows people with disability and voters above 80 years of age to cast their votes by postal ballots.

    They could be instead given special facilities at polling booths, he suggested.

    The EC had come out with this provision last year following the outbreak of COVID-19.

    The “biased” state administration could misuse it, Dasgupta said, attacking the Trinamool Congress government in West Bengal.

    A provision for separate and additional polling booths and stations for these voters can be made, he said after the delegation submitted a memorandum to the EC.

    The memorandum noted that active COVID-19 cases are declining in the country at an accelerated rate with their numbers merely 1.52 per cent of the total caseload.

    India has also launched the world’s largest inoculation drive against the infection, it said.

    This has led to the home ministry permitting all activities, including social, religious, sports, entertainment, educational and cultural activities, the memorandum stated.

    “Thus, it is safe to conclude that there has been a radical circumstantial change in the COVID-19 infection scenario in the country, wherein polling can be conduct normally at designated polling stations/booths with prescribed social distancing norms.

    Moreover, the speed and scale with which the vaccination drive is being conducted in India, postal ballots may not be required in the first place,” it said.

    The assembly polls in the state are expected to be held in April-May.

    Pitching for deploying only personnel of the Central Armed Police Forces during the polling exercise, the memorandum said the deployment of “committed state government employees on election duty will be detrimental to our averred objectives of free and fair elections”.

    It added that “there is a necessity to deploy members of only Central Armed Police Forces, duly trained to ensure the fairness, dignity and sanctity of the process. ..The police officers who have been accused of political partisanship in the past, should be strictly kept out of all poll related duties”.

  • BJP says door shut, no more mass joinings from TMC

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: The BJP has decided to stop mass joinings from the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal amid growing resentment within the saffron party over rampant inductions without scrutiny, senior leaders said on Tuesday.

    “Selective” inductions would be made henceforth, that too after consultations with the local leadership, they said.

    “We don’t want the BJP to turn into the B-team of the TMC by inducting leaders who don’t have a clean image. We don’t want people, facing allegations or are involved in immoral or illegal activities, to join our party,” BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya said.

    “So henceforth, mass joinings would not take place. From now on, the joinings would be very selective and that too after scrutiny,” he added.

    The decision has been taken amid rising infighting within the party’s West Bengal unit, often snowballing into the open, a senior state BJP leader said.

    “In many cases, the district leadership is not happy with the mass inductions. It has led to infightings and the matter has not gone down well with the central leadership,” he said.

    The BJP is working on a mechanism for leaders and cadres of other parties who want to switch over, he said.

    The mechanism will be in place to ascertain whether they have a good image in the public, the state party leader said.

    “Although the central and state leaderships would take the final call regarding the joinings, but those who wish to join also need to get a no-objection certificate from the local or district leadership of the party,” he said.

    Several former TMC leaders who are being probed for corruption have switched over to the BJP in the last few years.

    Since the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP has inducted 18 MLAs and an MP of the Trinamool Congress, three MLAs each from the CPI(M) and the Congress, and one MLA from the CPI.

    Except for former ministers Suvendu Adhikari and Rajib Banerjee, none of the MLAs have resigned from the assembly.

    Reacting to the development, the Trinamool Congress said the BJP’s decision reflects that it has lost the plot in Bengal.

    “The BJP neither has leaders nor has a face in Bengal. So, it was poaching leaders from other parties,” TMC spokesperson Sougata Roy said.

    “It has led to infighting within the party, so it has nothing to do rather than shutting its doors. It has lost the plot ahead of the elections,” he added.

    Elections to the 294-member West Bengal assembly are likely to be held in April-May.