On Wednesday, Mamata Banerjee said the central forces and election observers were doing what the BJP wanted as people were voting in the final stage of the West Bengal election. She even asked if voting could really happen the way it was going, and claimed that in important areas, voting was being intentionally stopped.
Allegations at polling stations
She went to many polling places and accused observers from other states of getting involved in the voting. She said party posters and flags had been taken down beforehand, and insisted that people, not the police or security, would be the ones to cast votes.
Outside a polling station in Chakraberia, Bhabanipur, she told reporters that “so many observers have come from outside” and that they were taking orders from the BJP. She also said “some people from other places are doing whatever they want” near polling places where problems were expected.
Mamata Banerjee went further with her complaints, saying TMC supporters were being held and stopped from doing their work as part of the election. She said the councillor for Ward No. re was not being allowed to move around, and that she and Abhishek Banerjee had been watching what was happening all night.
The Chief Minister also said that CRPF officers (without the local police with them) had gone to the councillor’s house in Ward No. 70 at night and attacked it. She said the councillor wasn’t home, but his wife and child were, and the house was damaged. She called this “terrorism” and said the goal was to cheat in the election.
Deployment of forces and observers
Recently, Mamata Banerjee has criticized the very large number of over 250,000 central forces that have been sent to the state, saying it’s never happened before and that they are frightening voters. She’d previously told the forces not to be “puppets” and told voters not to be scared.
Her statements came after the Election Commission appointed Ajay Pal Sharma, an IPS officer from Uttar Pradesh, as an observer just before this round of voting. After Sharma started his job, he went to a number of voting areas and warned TMC leaders to not frighten voters. TMC leaders have said this is what happened.
Abhishek Banerjee’s stance
Early in the day, Abhishek Banerjee, the TMC’s national general secretary, said to remain calm because voting had only just begun and it was wise to wait a few hours. He said observers were ignoring the Election Commission’s rules despite an order from the High Court, but said “none of these tricks will succeed” and that the TMC would win by an even larger margin this time.
The key claims and counterclaims so far are:
– Mamata alleges forces and observers act under BJP
– She says party flags were removed in advance
– She alleges CRPF vandalised a councillor’s home
– Abhishek says observers flouted EC guidelines
– Observer Ajay Pal Sharma warned TMC against intimidation
– Suvendu Adhikari says Mamata is scaring Hindu voters
Stakes in the final phase
This stage of the election covers 142 voting areas in the southern part of West Bengal, including Kolkata, Howrah, North and South 24 Parganas, Nadia, Hooghly, and Purba Bardhaman. For a long time, these areas have been the TMC’s main source of support, so this election is very important for the current ruling party.
The election in Bhabanipur has become a symbolic event. Mamata Banerjee is running against Suvendu Adhikari, the Leader of the Opposition, and people see it as a battle for pride and a repeat of their very public contest in Nandigram during the 2021 Assembly election.
BJP’s counter and campaign message
Suvendu Adhikari, the opposition leader, has said Mamata Banerjee is trying to scare Hindu voters. For the BJP, this part of the election is a really important test of whether they can go from being strong in the north of West Bengal to being strong in the south. They have been campaigning on issues of corruption, illegal immigration, violence after the election, and citizenship, and are hoping to weaken the TMC’s hold on power.
What comes next
As people continue to vote, both the accusations being made and the BJP’s response show how much is at stake in this part of the election. The result will show if the BJP can really grow in the south of West Bengal and how strong the TMC’s support remains in its most important areas.
