Tag: West Bengal Election 2021

  • EC issues notice to Mamata, seeks explanation on statements against Central forces

    By ANI
    KOLKATA: The Election Commission issued a notice to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee asking her to explain her stand by April 10 regarding her statements against Central forces on March 28 and April 7. This is the second notice issued to her by the Election Commission.

    Banerjee had alleged that the Central forces favoured the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) during the polling in the first and second phase of West Bengal assembly elections.

    On Wednesday, EC had issued another notice to Mamata Banerjee over her remarks on April 3, where she appealed to the Muslim voters to not let their vote be split among different political parties contesting in the ongoing assembly elections.

    The Commission asked the Chief Minister to explain her stand within 48 hours after receiving the notice, failing which it shall “take a decision without further reference to you”.

    Meanwhile, Mamata Banerjee challenged the EC on Thursday saying if she was served 10 of such notices, she would keep urging voters to vote unitedly against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

    Speaking at a public rally in Domjur, Banerjee said, “Even if 10 show cause notices are issued against me, my answer will remain the same. I am telling everyone to vote unitedly, there will no division. Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Christians, do not give a single vote to them.

    The first three phases of the eight-phased West Bengal polls have already taken place. The fourth phase of the elections will be held on Saturday. Counting of the votes will take place on May 2.

  • BJP men forcibly occupying booths, attacking TMC candidates, says Mamata as 3rd phase underway

    By PTI
    KALCHINI: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday claimed BJP activists were forcibly occupying polling booths and attacking TMC members, including party candidates, and asserted that she would not get bogged down by such “intimidatory tactics”.

    Addressing a public meeting here in Alipurduar district, the TMC supremo said her party’s nominee in Arambagh, Sujata Mondal, was chased and hit on head near a polling booth by saffron party workers.

    “They have inflicted serious injury on our Scheduled Caste candidate Sujata, when she visited a booth. They also hit another candidate in Khanakul. In Canning East, security forces prevented our nominee Shaukat Mollah from entering a booth. There had been numerous such instances of attack on our candidates, party workers across the state,” Banerjee said.

    The CM further stated that she has received at least 100 complaints of assault and violence since morning, and the EC has been duly informed but to no avail.

    Alleging that a deep-rooted conspiracy has been hatched by the BJP leadership in Delhi after experiencing “poor turnout” in rallies, Banerjee said “Security forces have been asked not to resist booth capturing.”

    “Four of our activists have been murdered since the elections began, but no action has been taken. But you (BJP) cannot terrorise us, intimidate us by such acts,” Banerjee added.

  • EC seeks report over violence during polling in Bengal’s Nandigram

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: The Election Commission of India on Thursday sought a detailed report from the administration in connection with an incident of violence in Boyal area in Nandigram where Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee paid a visit to oversee the polling process.

    The West Bengal chief minister visited several booths across the high-profile Nandigram constituency, where she is pitted against her former lieutenant Suvendu Adhikari of the BJP.

    As soon as Banerjee reached Boyal, BJP supporters started chanting ‘Jai Shri Ram’ slogans.

    Supporters of the two parties then indulged in violence, as TMC leaders demanded re-polling in booth number 7, police said.

    Central forces tried to restore law and peace in the area.

    Deputy Election Commissioner Sudeep Jain sought a report from the administration regarding the incident outside a polling booth in Boyal area, and the death of a person in Keshpur area earlier in the day.

    A Trinamool Congress worker was allegedly stabbed to death in Keshpur area in Paschim Medinipur district in the early hours of Thursday.

    Polling is being held in phase two of the elections at 30 assembly constituencies in South 24 Parganas, Bankura, Paschim Medinipur and Purba Medinipur districts.

  • West Bengal polls: Ex-cricketer and BJP candidate Ashok Dinda gets Y+ security

    By ANI
    KOLKATA: Former cricketer and BJP candidate from Moyna Ashok Dinda has been provided Y+ security after the alleged attack on him by unidentified people on Tuesday ahead of the second phase of voting in the poll-bound state of West Bengal.

    According to BJP sources, the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) will provide security to the former cricketer.

    Dinda was returning after the poll campaign when a mob surrounded his car near Moyna Bazaar and hurdled stones on Tuesday. The glass of his car windows was broken and he suffered injuries on his shoulder. The BJP has accused the Trinamool Congress (TMC) for the attack.

    Polling for the Moyna assembly constituency will be held on April 1 in the second phase.

    In phase-II, 30 assembly constituencies from the districts of Bankura, South 24 Parganas, Purba Medinipur and Paschim Medinipur will go to polls to decide the fate of 171 candidates including 19 women.

    The first phase of the West Bengal assembly elections was held on Saturday with an estimated 79.79 per cent voter turnout.

    The polling for 31 seats in the third phase of the 294-member state assembly will be held on April 6. The elections for 44 seats will be held in the fourth phase on April 10. Further, in the fifth phase on April 17, 45 seats will go to polls. The sixth phase is scheduled for April 22 when elections for 43 seats will be done. In the seventh phase on April 26, polling will be held for 36 seats. Finally, the eighth phase is scheduled for April 29 when 35 seats will go for polling.

    The counting of votes will take place on May 2. 

  • The significance of Nandigram in West Bengal polls

    By ANI
    NEW DELHI: The assembly constituency of Nandigram, which will witness a high-octane, high profile battle between Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her former ministerial colleague and now BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari, will go to the polls in the second phase of the ongoing West Bengal assembly elections on April 1.

    Adhikari had joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in December last year and is raring to give a tough fight to the Trinamool Congress chief.

    Nandigram is touted to be the deciding constituency in the Bengal polls. BJP’s chances of winning the state assembly elections would increase manifold if they can somehow manage to win Nandigram.

    ALSO READ: Constituencies to look out for in 2nd phase of polling in Bengal

    In the 2016 by-election for the Tamluk Lok Sabha seat, which includes Nandigram, BJP got about 196,000 votes. However, BJP inflicted a shock to the TMC when it won 18 Lok Sabha seats with a vote share of more than 40 percent in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

    And it is the performance in the 2019 general assembly elections that has made the BJP a serious contender for power in the state. While the party did very well in the hills — north Bengal, and the Jangalmahal region — it failed to cross a critical threshold in the south Bengal region. South Bengal is the most populous region of the state and accounts for 167 out of the 294 assembly constituencies. Unless the BJP makes significant advances in south Bengal, it would be very difficult for the BJP to beat TMC.

    ALSO READ: Nandigram torn between Dada and Didi

    Violence took place in Nandigram in 2007 in the aftermath of a failed project by the communist government of West Bengal to acquire land for a special economic zone. The policy led to an emergency in the region, and 14 people lost their lives in a police shooting.

    Mamata and her party noted the issue and raised the slogan “Ma Mati Manush” (Mother, Motherland and People) which was used in their election campaigns. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) later exonerated the Buddhadeb Bhattacharya government of responsibility for the shootings.

    Mamata later claimed that the violence was indeed planned by the Adhikaris, who were members of TMC back then, to dethrone the communist government.

    ALSO READ: To salute movement, I chose Nandigram over Singur, says Mamata Banerjee

    Fourteen years after a bloody farmland agitation in Nandigram changed the political landscape in West Bengal, battle lines have been redrawn in Nandigram — a place that shook the foundations of the mighty 34-year-old Left Front regime in the state and propelled TMC to power in 2011.

    Adhikari has claimed that BJP will defeat Mamata — who is for the first time contesting from Nandigram — by a margin of over 50,000 votes, something which will be known only once the counting takes place on May 2.  

  • ‘…Lost her mental balance’: Dharmendra Pradhan slams Mamata over ‘UP and Bihar goons’ remark

    By ANI
    NEW DELHI: Hitting out at West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for her “UP and Bihar goons” remark, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Tuesday said she has lost her mental balance.

    “Mamata Ji has lost her mental balance. She is highly disappointed by the negative response in Nandigram. Speaking about Uttar Pradesh instead of condoling her (elderly mother of a BJP worker) death is like running away from responsibilities. She is scared of defeat,” Pradhan said.

    On Monday, speaking about the incident in which she suffered injuries and fractured her leg in Nandigram on March 10, she had said: “They attacked me. No one from Nandigram attacked me but you (BJP) brought goons from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. We want a free and fair election. If they come, women should beat them up with utensils.”

    “Those who cannot love culture, cannot do politics here. Nandigram witnessing hooliganism. We did a meeting in Birulia. The TMC office was destroyed. He (Suvendu Adhikari) is doing whatever he wants. I can play games too. I too will respond like a lion. I am a Royal Bengal tiger,” she had added.

    The remaining seven phases for the 294-member West Bengal Assembly will be held on different dates with the final round of voting scheduled on April 29. Counting of votes will take place on May 2.

  • Crude bombs, country-made firearms seized in poll-bound Bengal

    By PTI
    CANNING: A large number of crude bombs and several country-made firearms were seized in different poll-bound areas in West Bengal’s South 24 Parganas district, police said on Sunday.

    Acting on a tip-off, police personnel seized 48 crude bombs near a water body in Kathipota village in Narendrapur police station area on Sunday, an officer said.

    The crude bombs were defused and further investigation is underway, he said.

    An arms factory was also busted in Merigunj village in Kultali police station area late on Saturday night, another officer said.

    The owner of the house, where the illegal arms manufacturing unit was functioning, was arrested, he said.

    Four country-made firearms and an unfinished gun have been seized, the officer added.

    These areas will go to polls in the third phase on April 6.

     

  • TMC candidate Madan Mitra celebrates Holi with BJP nominees on Hooghly river

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: Sinking political differences, Trinamool Congress candidate and maverick politician Madan Mitra on Sunday celebrated Holi with three actors-turned-BJP nominees on board a vessel on river Hooghly.

    Mitra, the TMC candidate from Kamarhati constituency, celebrated the festival of colours with Payel Sarkar, Srabonti Chatterjee and Tanushree Chakraborty, who are contesting the West Bengal assembly elections on BJP tickets from Kolkata’s Behala East and Behala West seats and Howrah’s Shyampur respectively.

    Singing popular Holi-special Bengali song, ”Khelbo Holi rong debona…”, Mitra said, “They are my friends. We have known each other for many years. There shouldn”t be any politics on Holi. I invited them and they are here.”

    TMC’s Candidate Madan Mitra enjoys Bengali Holi with BJP candidates Payel Sarkar, Srabani Chatterjee and Tanusree Chakraborty..Let’s enjoy together…Let’s spread Love together…#BengalElection2021#BengalElections2021 pic.twitter.com/1EfjYJMIy9
    — Shashi S Singh (@Morewithshashi) March 28, 2021

    “Political differences should not overshadow our personal relations. We can have different political ideologies but we are all together on Holi, which speaks of amity and harmony. This is the culture of West Bengal,” he added.

    Tanushree said, “I was on a campaign trail till yesterday but today, I have taken a break.”

    Srabonti and Payel also called for forgetting political differences and celebrating the festival.

    They also shook a leg with Mitra and smeared colours on each other.

    In other parts of the state, too, many candidates including actor Rudranil Ghosh and filmmaker Raj Chakraborty celebrated the festival while campaigning in their respective constituencies. 

  • Central police forces will play a greater role in poll bound states: CEC Sunil Arora

    By PTI
    CHENNAI: In poll bound states, including Tamil Nadu, the Central police forces would play a greater role as part of measures to ensure fair polls and to see that no one took any undue advantage, Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora said here on Thursday.

    Several measures were being contemplated to ensure inducement free, fair elections to the Tamil Nadu Assembly in view of allegations of inducement of voters in the past and two Special Expenditure Observers would also be deputed, he said.

    The bypoll to the Kanyakumari Lok Sabha seat would be held alongside Assembly polls, he said.

    The seat fell vacant following the death of Congress MP, H Vasanthakumar due to COVID-19 last year.

    The top Election Commission official, wrapping up meetings with senior officials and representatives of political parties here along with his colleagues, expressed confidence of a free, fair and transparent elections.

    In keeping with the best administrative traditions of Tamil Nadu, there shall be no ‘Vellores and RK Nagars,’ he said in an apparent reference to allegations of distribution of cash to voters and the EC’s measures to prevent such attempts.

    It has been decided that for all the five poll bound states including Tamil Nadu, the Central Armed Police Forces coordinator shall be at the apex level of a committee that allocated personnel from one place to the other, Arora said addressing a press conference.

    Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal, Assam and the Union Territory of neighbouring Puducherry are likely to go to polls in April or May.

    The official said that at the district level, the senior most general observer would be part of the exercise on allocation of personnel.

    “This is a major decision we have already taken. It will be formally conveyed to the Chief Electoral Officers in the next two to three days maximum.”

    The decision follows feedback from political parties and a ‘complaint’ that the personnel were deployed by the state governments “wherever they like,” he noted.

    The Commission is trying to put more forces in every state and the coordinator of the Central forces have been assigned a greater role to play in terms of both deployment and allocation of personnel so that no one took any undue advantage when it came to exercise of franchise through postal ballots, he said.

    Referring to a high level meeting today with Central and state regulatory agencies, answering a question, he said the EC has emphasised a lot about measures to ensure inducement free polls.

    “There are several things we are planning to do and we shall do, but I am sorry to say that it will not be possible for me to share a lot of things in public domain…because we have given instructions and we shall be conducting another meeting with senior officers and enforcement agencies after a week or 10 days virtually to review as to what is the outcome of the meeting we held today.”

    The EC is sensitive to alleged inducements, he asserted and recalled cancellation of polls to Vellore Parliamentary Constituency (2019) and bypolls to RK Nagar Assembly segment (2017), the ‘harshest’ action taken by the commission in any state in respect of such allegations.

    On special observers, he said, “because of money factor of inducement in Tamil Nadu, besides the normal observers we send, we have decided to send Special Expenditure Observers (SEO).”

    This would be in addition to district observers, he noted.

    Such SEOs shall be noted for their integrity and would be of the rank of retired secretaries of the Centre and also former chaipersons of the Central Board of Direct Taxes.

    There shall be at least two SEOs and one of them shall be a very senior person for guidance for Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

    The exercise of deputing SEOs was being done on a state to state basis and not followed necessarily eveywhere while in some states, the special focus would be on law and order front.

    The top official expressed displeasure over the work by some regulatory arms of the Tamil Nadu government ahead of the notification of state polls.

    “When we had the meeting of the regulatory agencies, I must say we were quite unhappy with the overall performance of the state excise department as well as the Special DG enforcement. We have brought the relevant facts to the notice of the Chief Secretary.”

    Since the state has excise revenue of Rs 34,000 crore, he said, “we felt that much more could have been done” vis-a- vis matters like the kind of seizures done.

    “…how many decimal points you have to put after the zero, the honourable excise commissioner was not even able to calculate it.”

    He said the EC was very disappointed about not apprehending the ‘big fish’.

    On this matter, he said they were apprised that during enforcement in a particular seizure of almost Rs two crore, the authorities registered 23,000 to 27,000 cases.

    It meant that these were against the “small guys, some drivers, some couriers, the foot soldiers who were being caught and not the big fish.”

    The EC has sought a special report on this matter from the Additional Chief Secretary Home who also looked after the Finance Department, he noted.

    From the previous 68,324 polling stations in Tamil Nadu, there would be 25,000 more now as per the norms to prevent spread of COVID-19 and in total there shall be 93,000 booths, he said adding it also meant mobilisation of more men and materials.

    As regards arrangements for procurement of COVID-19 related materials, the state Chief Secretary has assured that these would be available on time.

    Asked on likelihood of TN elections being held in April or May and if polls would be conducted in a single phase, he said these would be made known later at the time of announcement of elections.