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Mamata Banerjee, on dharna against EC's campaign ban, takes to painting
Banerjee arrived at the Mayo road venue in the morning and began her sit-in next to a Mahatma Gandhi statue at the venue.
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who sat on a dharna in Kolkata on Tuesday to protest against the Election Commission of India's (ECI) ban on her campaign for 24 hours, took to her favourite hobby and produced two paintings while sitting on her wheelchair.
Banerjee arrived at the Mayo road venue in the morning and began her sit-in next to a Mahatma Gandhi statue at the venue. She went about with pouring colours on the palette, making swift brushstrokes, and soon she produced a painting, which she showed to the crowd as it cheered.
Meanwhile, a defence official said that the area where Mamata Banerjee is staging a protest belongs to the army, and the TMC was yet to receive permission for the programme. "We received an application from Trinamool Congress (TMC) at 9:40 am, for a No Objection Certificate (NOC) for Kolkata's Gandhi Murti as the area falls under Army's jurisdiction. It is under process and NOC hasn't been issued yet," the official said, according to news agency ANI.
Banerjee is staging the dharna as a mark of protest against what she called the EC's "unconstitutional decision" to bar her from campaigning for 24 hours in the ongoing state assembly polls. The poll body's order came after the chief minister's remarks against the central forces and a statement which had alleged religious overtones.
The EC said that Banerjee had made "highly insinuating and provocative remarks laden with the serious potential of the breakdown of law and order and thereby affecting the election process" and advised her "to desist from using such statements while making public utterances during the period when Model Code of Conduct is in force."
The next phase of West Bengal Assembly polls will be held on April 17. The counting of votes will take place on May 2.
