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'Key battle for democracy’: Prashant Kishor tweets on Bengal polls
In his first tweet since December 21 last year, Prashant Kishor also echoed West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee in saying that ‘Bengal Only Wants its Own Daughter.’ Kishor is working with Banerjee and her TMC for the upcoming assembly elections.
Election strategist Prashant Kishor, who is working with West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and her Trinamool Congress (TMC) for the assembly elections in the eastern state, on Saturday described the upcoming polls as a ‘key battle FOR DEMOCRACY in India.’ Kishor also echoed Banerjee in saying that ‘Bengal Only Wants its Own Daughter.’
“One of the key battles FOR DEMOCRACY in India will be fought in West Bengal, and the people of Bengal are ready with their MESSAGE and determined to show the RIGHT CARD - #BanglaNijerMeyekeiChay (Bengal Only Wants its Daughter),” Kishor tweeted. Reiterating an earlier prediction, he added, “PS: On 2nd May, hold me to my last tweet.”
Saturday’s tweet is Kishor’s first this year. On December 21, in his last tweet of 2020, he posted: “For all the hype AMPLIFIED by a section of supportive media, in reality BJP will struggle to CROSS DOUBLE DIGITS in #WestBengal. PS: Please save this tweet and if BJP does any better I must quit this space!”
Also Read | Will BJP leaders quit if party fails to get 200 seats in WB, asks Prashant Kishor
The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Friday announced the poll schedule for West Bengal. As per the schedule, the state will vote across eight phases, between March 27 and April 29. The other six dates on which polling will take place are April 1, 6, 10, 17, 22 and 26. Counting of votes for all 294 assembly constituencies will take place on May 2 and results will be announced the same day.
Banerjee, who first became chief minister in 2011 and was re-elected in 2016, has pitched herself as a ‘daughter of the soil’ for the forthcoming elections, simultaneously projecting the resurgent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as ‘outsiders.’ The two main faces of the BJP, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah, are both from Gujarat. The party is also yet to announce its candidate for the state’s top post.
The chief minister has also slammed the ECI for scheduling polls in eight phases in West Bengal, questioning if this was done ‘on the directions of PM Modi and home minister Shah.’
Also Read | Mamata Banerjee questions rationale behind conducting Bengal polls in 8 phases
In 2016, the TMC was re-elected with 211 seats, up from 184 in 2011. The 2016 assembly elections in the state were held in six phases and the BJP won only three seats that year. However, in Lok Sabha elections in 2019, it won 18 of Bengal’s 42 parliamentary seats, increasing its tally by 16, and bringing the TMC down from 34 to 22.
