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Adhikari seeks rejection of Mamata Banerjee's nomination, cites pending CBI case
The CBI says the case was not against CM Banerjee but her namesake.
Bharatiya Janata Party leader Suvendu Adhikari, who has been fielded against West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, has filed an objection with the Election Commission of India seeking the rejection of Banerjee’s nomination.
Adhikari, in his letter to the returning officer of Nandigram constituency in East Midnapore, has alleged that Banerjee suppressed criminal proceedings against her, including a CBI case.
A senior official of the CBI, however, said that the woman named in the case is a different woman and not chief minister Mamata Banerjee. The accused’s name was also Mamata Banerjee.
“Under the circumstances, we humbly pray that the nomination of the candidate Mamata Banerjee be forthwith rejected,” Adhikari wrote in the letter sent to the returning officer of Nandigram assembly constituency on Monday.
He alleged that while at least five cases are pending against Banerjee at various police stations in Assam including Geeta Nagar, Pan Bazar, Jagiroad, North Lakhimpur and Udharbond, a CBI case is also pending against her.
“I have informed the ECI. Now they would search for the cases and find out. Let’s see what actions they take,” Adhikari had told media earlier in the day.
He referred to three news articles in his letter which say that in 2018 Assam Police registered five cases against Banerjee for making provocative remarks regarding the Assam National Register of Citizens (NRC).
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“It is shameful. The BJP is trying to malign the chief minister and casting aspersions against her by linking her to a case in which another person has been named. He knows very well that he would lose, and his security deposit would be forfeited. So he is resorting to such malicious propaganda,” said Kunal Ghosh, TMC spokesperson.
A few days ago Banerjee was injured while she was campaigning in Nandigram. That the TMC is not letting these two opportunities go and was planning to go all out against the BJP on both issues was evident from the party spokesperson’s statements.
“While the people of Bengal would respond to this, the TMC as a party would also think whether any further steps could be taken,” said Ghosh
While the crucial West Bengal assembly elections would take off from March 27 and would be held in eight phases, Nandigram goes to poll in the second phase on April 1.
A CBI official in Kolkata, however, said that the woman who has been named in the charge sheet in a disproportionate asset case is not the chief minister but the wife of a central government employee with a similar name.
“The central government employee was employed in Asansol Durgapur zone at that time. Even though his wife Mamata Banerjee was not named in the FIR her name was included in the charge sheet later. This is not the chief minister,” said an official.
“The returning officer hasn't forwarded it to me yet. It hasn’t reached my office. I would be in a position to comment on it only after the RO forwards me the letter with his views after examining the merits of the complaint,” said Smita Pandey, the district magistrate who doubles up as the district election officer.
Meanwhile, the state BJP unit has also moved the ECI with the same letter.
With Banerjee contesting the polls against her protégé-turned-adversary Adhikari, West Bengal is likely to witness one of the most high-pitched poll battles in recent times.
